Magic Makes Fools
by CrunchDeNumbers
Summary: Queen Elsa's love powered the Great Thaw. The Corona Royal Academy estimated the power of Elsa's love to be at least 200 billion horsepower. What happens when early 19th century science and ice magic collide?
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

It was one year after the Great Thaw.

Queen Elsa of Arendelle leaned back in her chair and stretched. She had just finished this month's draft trade agreements and called a clerk to take them to her council and the lawyers for finishing touches. There was only one more item to deal with and her work day would be ended. If she could get through it in the next fifteen minutes she wouldn't even be late for dinner with her sister.

The item was a thick volume, the Journal of the Corona Royal Academy, with a note from the librarian: "Your Majesty, this volume arrived today. Please direct your attention to page 354."

Elsa opened the book to the indicated page and read the title, "Observations on the Great Thaw of Arendelle." Her pulse quickened, the temperature in the room dropped, and frost covered the pages.

Breathing deeply to calm herself, Elsa felt the frost retreat. No need to jump to conclusions, this might not be a negative report. Corona was an increasingly important trade partner, and after all, the report was on observations during the Thaw, not the freeze. And at least the Corona Royal Academy was acting in the open rather than behind closed doors. She suspected that Royal Academies all over Europe were working on similar analyses, trying to estimate her strengths and find her weaknesses. Elsa started reading.

Fifteen minutes later Princess Anna peeked in through Elsa's open door and paused. Elsa was absorbed in a book and it was obviously upsetting her. A jagged edged patch of ice was alternately advancing and retreating across the floor. Occasionally it would expand, only to contract a few seconds later. As Elsa finished reading she carefully shut the book, leaned back in her chair, took a deep breath, and closed her eyes. The patch of ice held steady at 10 feet in diameter.

Anna knocked gently at the door to get her sister's attention. Elsa jerked in her chair as her eyes flew open, "Oh! Anna you startled me." Her voice trembled slightly.

"I'm sorry. What were you reading? It's obviously pretty upsetting," said Anna, pointing to the patch of ice. Elsa blushed, embarrassed at the minor loss of control and made the ice vanish.

"It's a Corona Royal Academy analysis of the events following my coronation and it's simultaneously the most insulting and flattering thing I've ever read," said Elsa with a frown. "Look at the conclusions."

"Blah, blah, drought and flood mitigation, blah, blah, heat treatment of metal and tempering of glass," read Anna.

"He wants to hook me up to irrigation canals or chain me up in a foundry," muttered Elsa, the temperature in the room dropping again.

"Blah, blah. Whoa! Elsa!" Anna read aloud, "Based on the rates of freezing and thawing of the Arendelle fjord, Queen Elsa's fear and despair can absorb energy at a rate of at least two billion horsepower, and her love can supply energy at a rate of at least two hundred billion horsepower."

"He wants to hook me up to a steam engine and power all of Europe," said Elsa. The frost patch was back, and it was expanding.

"Oh, come on. He doesn't actually suggest that. He only says that if your powers could be harnessed they would supply the world's energy needs for.. centuries.. to.. come. Ok, maybe you're right. But where's the flattery?"

"Second to the last sentence," said Elsa.

"Queen Elsa is the vessel of a love of almost inconceivable power," read Anna. "Ok, that's pretty nice. And hey, I like the attitude in this last sentence."

"And love and magic make fools of natural philosophers," said Elsa. She laughed and the room warmed. "At least he's willing to admit it when he bumps up against the unknown."

* * *

Anna read the entire paper during dinner. As the sisters finished dessert, she said, "As insulting as it is to be considered industrial equipment, did you notice that this paper isn't the least judgmental? It's just makes estimates from eyewitness reports and describes potential uses. All good things!"

Elsa sighed. "You're right. And he's thought of implications and applications of my powers I hadn't considered." She stood and started pacing around the room. "I've been stagnating. I haven't really extended my powers for a while. It might be interesting to have a natural philosopher on sabbatical suggesting new directions."

Anna looked at the author's name, "Well, 'Observer' is pretty obviously a pseudonym. If you want to work with him, how are you going to find him?"

Elsa stopped pacing and thought for a moment. "We're currently negotiating this year's trade pact with Corona. We can make finding 'Observer' their problem." She grinned. "And if I play up the insult aspect, we may be able to get Corona to pay for 'Observer's' sabbatical."

Anna laughed. "Serves them right for reducing you to numbers."

Frowning, Elsa said, "One aspect of this concerns me. Essentially we'll be inviting Corona to install a spy. Someone who will be working directly with me to help me explore my strengths and determine my weaknesses."

"Oh, come on. What's the worst that could happen?"

"Death? Destruction? Plunging the entire world into never ending winter? Freezing the sun? Two years ago I nearly destroyed Arendelle without knowing I was doing anything of the sort and my power is still growing. I control it now, but I feel like the fulcrum of a very big lever. The worst that could happen is devastating."

"You can always say no to his suggestions. If he's a spy, at least he's a known spy. We can read his letters, and then you can be _appropriately_ paranoid."

"All right." Elsa laughed. "Come back to my office with me and help me guilt the King of Corona into paying for an 'Observer'."

**A/N - Just to give a sense of scale, 200 billion horsepower is approximately 150 TeraWatts, or about 30 times the electrical power generating capacity of the world in 2010.**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

King Philip of Corona was reading his correspondence and he was not happy. He waved over a guard. "Joseph, please get the director of the Royal Academy. Have him bring a copy of the latest Journal."

Philip sighed and leaned back in his chair. He wondered what, specifically, had insulted Queen Elsa, who 'Observer' was, why this _had_ to come during trade negotiations, and where the money to make it go away would come from. It all came down to identifying 'Observer'.

The director of the Royal Academy, Doctor Collins, was announced. King Philip straightened and composed himself. "Come." The director bustled into the room holding a thick volume. The king held out his hand and, when he was given the book, opened it to page 354. He read the title of the paper and gasped.

"How could you publish this! Queen Elsa has taken offense. It's jeopardized trade negotiations with Arendelle." The king paused, his eyes narrowing, "And since _when_ does the Journal publish papers pseudonymously?"

The director fumbled. "I.. I'm sorry Your Majesty, I had no idea this paper could impact Corona's trade. Part of the reason for publishing under a pseudonym was to be able to deny the source of the report."

"Hmmm. Who wrote it?"

"If you read the conclusions, I feel certain you'll recognize the author."

Philip flipped to the end of the paper and read the conclusions, his face darkening as he read. "Royalty as industrial equipment? Love and magic make fools of natural philosophers?"

Philip once again waved over the guard. "Joseph, have the captain of the guard escort Mr. Morris to his usual cell."

The director did his best to suppress a smirk.

Philip noticed, rolled his eyes and sighed. Yes, Mr. Morris was sometimes annoying, occasionally disrespectful, almost always short sighted and certainly the author of the offending report. Authorizing the report for publication, however, could only have been the Director's doing.

"Doctor Collins," said Philip, "I'm aware that Mr. Morris has long been a thorn in your side, but jeopardizing trade to score against him is unacceptable. When Joseph returns he will escort you to an adjacent cell where you'll stay just as long as Mr. Morris."

The director blanched as the guard returned. "But Your Majesty!"

"Joseph, take Dr. Collins to the cell next to Mr. Morris's."

The guard took the protesting director away. Philip waved over another guard. "Robert, inform Mrs. Morris and Mrs. Collins that their husbands will be staying as guests of the crown until tomorrow night."

Philip leaned back in his chair and started reading the offending paper. His frown soon relaxed and, after a while, he smiled. It was clear Mr. Morris had not gotten his hands on the classified reports on the Arendelle coronation. Philip gave a brief laugh. "_I should have known_," he thought, "_I'll bet that the 'observations' he was using came from the children's book of the Arendelle coronation Rapunzel illustrated_."

* * *

An hour later Philip walked down to the dungeon followed by a guard. He passed the spartan cell Dr. Collins occupied and came to the cell occupied by Mr. Morris.

"Please open the door, Michael," he said to the guard. Philip entered the cell. It had a comfortable cot, a chair at a desk with paper, pen and ink, and a wall covered in books. As he entered, Alexander Morris stood up from the chair. He was a slightly overweight 45 year old man with intent brown eyes, a short beard and thinning hair. He wore rumpled pants and a shirt covered in ink stains. He moved to the center of the room and offered Philip the chair. Philip noticed a copy of Rapunzel's picture book on the desk.

"Sit on the cot, Alex," said Philip. "Two hundred _billion_ horsepower? How did you get two hundred billion horsepower from an illustration in a children's book?"

"Oh, is that what this is about? Well, Your Majesty, I have to admit I didn't. I also needed a map of the Arendelle fjord, and the Prince Consort telling me that the Great Thaw took about twenty seconds."

"It took all that?" asked Philip sarcastically.

Alex reached over and picked up Rapunzel's book, oblivious to the sarcasm, "The Princess is known to have a wonderful eye for detail. If you look here at one of the later illustrations you can see a reindeer standing on an ice floe that sticks up about two feet out of the water. So the ice layer must have been about twenty feet thick. I got the area of the ice sheet from the map of the fjord and the location of the edge of the ice sheet seen in one of the earlier pictures. I will admit that I made assumptions about the initial and final temperatures, but they weren't unreasonable. Given those assumptions and the properties of ice and water, estimating the energy required to melt the ice sheet was just a matter of mathematics. Given the time it took to melt, it was straightforward to compute the power required."

Philip looked at the illustration. It showed Queen Elsa on her knees on the frozen fjord, Prince Hans approaching with a sword, Princess Anna running toward them, an unknown man farther in the background, ships frozen around them, and, in the distance, a reindeer on an ice floe. Trust Alex to miss the big picture in pursuit of a useful detail. "Alex, have you got _any_ idea of how much trouble your paper has caused? The Queen of Arendelle feels that she has been insulted. Trade negotiations have been impacted."

"I'm sorry, Your Majesty. But how could facts gleaned from a children's book insult the Queen of Arendelle?" asked Alex.

"It wasn't the facts, it was the way they were presented! Using a Queen as an industrial apparatus? It's almost as bad as what you suggested for Rapunzel! Remember what happened that time?"

"I ended up with a black eye courtesy of the Prince Consort and spent two weeks in this cell. The desk and chair are welcome additions, by the way. Thank you."

"You spend enough time down here it might as well be your second office," said Philip. "At any rate, your academic squabble with Dr. Collins and your inability to understand how royalty will react to what you write is impacting the kingdom's foreign relations."

"Again, Your Majesty, I am sorry. Is there anything I can do to remedy the rift? Will a sincere letter of apology help?" asked Alex hopefully.

"As a matter of fact, there is something that can be done. Queen Elsa was insulted by your presentation but impressed by the way you analyzed the circumstances surrounding her coronation. She wants you to travel to Arendelle to work with her on understanding the extent of her powers."

"That's fantastic!"

"At our expense."

"Oh."

"To be honest, I'm not opposed to this solution. It would be good to have a second opinion of the character of the Arendelle royal family. Rapunzel has become an excellent judge of people, but she has a very large and sympathetic blind spot for people who grew up in isolation, and the isolation of Queen Elsa and Princess Anna was almost as great as her own, albeit of a different type."

"I didn't see anything about that in the book," said Alex.

"Not everything Rapunzel saw and heard ended up in the book. Anyway, your family will be traveling with you. I wouldn't separate them from you for a year, and frankly I trust your wife's understanding of people better than yours."

"She's also much more diplomatic," said Alex. "Speaking of diplomacy, since we don't have an ambassador in Arendelle, could you send the usual diplomatic supply package with us?"

"That's a good idea, although we won't send the diplomatic code books," said Philip. "Queen Elsa almost certainly believes we'll use this opportunity to plant a spy in her kingdom. You will not have diplomatic privileges, so it is likely your mail will be monitored and censored. Arendelle's trade is expanding and the country and its surroundings appear stable at this time. If it takes a year to get your opinion of the character of the royal family, it will still be timely. Meanwhile, if you and your family write letters about your experiences to your family and friends, our postal intelligence division will glean what they can from them."

"At any rate, you'll be traveling to Arendelle at the end of the summer. Put together a _reasonable_ list of what you'll need in the way of experimental equipment and it'll be purchased. You'll have your salary for the year in advance." Philip smirked. "The funds will come out of the Royal Academy budget."

"Oh!" said Dr. Collins, eavesdropping from the next cell.

**A/N - Sorry about using an entire chapter set in another country to introduce an original character. Aside from one minor scene in the next chapter we're done with Corona.**


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Anna was in the royal stables helping Kristoff settle Sven when a servant found her and informed her that Queen Elsa wanted her opinion of King Philip of Corona's response to their letter.

"What letter is this?" asked Kristoff while passing a carrot to Sven.

"Oh, the Corona Royal Academy published a paper that insulted Elsa, so we're guilting the King of Corona into paying for the author to spend a year helping her explore her powers."

"Wait. Why would she want to work with someone who insulted her?"

Anna ticked off reasons on her fingers, "Because he was also flattering, nonjudgemental, had interesting ideas, and had a good attitude."

"That's an.. odd combination. Who wrote this thing?"

"We don't know, it was written under a pen name. Ooh! Maybe it's a brilliant young student who nobody takes seriously, so he writes under pseudonym. Elsa likes the way he thinks! And he's not afraid of her powers! Maybe they'll fall in love!"

"Whoa, Speedy. Aren't you getting a little ahead of yourself?" asked Kristoff. He kissed her and pointed her at the stable door. "Go. Find out what's really going on. You can tell me about it later."

Anna grinned at him over her shoulder and headed for Elsa's office.

* * *

Anna found Elsa slowly pacing in her office reading a letter. There didn't appear to be any ice on the floor, so the letter was probably good news. "So, what's going on?" asked Anna.

"Oh, hello Anna. 'Observer' is a natural philosopher named Alexander Morris. He, his wife, and their fifteen year old daughter will be arriving for a year's sabbatical at the beginning of September," said Elsa.

Anna buried her disappointment. No potential love for Elsa. "But Corona is paying, right?" she asked.

"For everything: travel expenses, salary, and equipment to outfit a laboratory," said Elsa.

"Woo hoo! We write _good_ guilt!" said Anna. "So, what do we know about this family?"

"King Philip says that Mr. Morris started as an engineer's apprentice for the Royal Academy, but he eventually became a natural philosopher there. He's bright, has wide interests, but is inclined to missing the forest for the trees (which the King blames for the wording of the paper, and for which he apologizes). His spouse, Sarah, is a midwife and something of an authority on the medicinal plants of Corona. Their daughter, Ruth, is a student who does glasswork as a hobby and can make whatever scientific glassware they don't actually bring," said Elsa.

"And Corona's paying for all of it? It sounds too good to be true!" said Anna.

Elsa frowned, "It does, doesn't it. The council and the accountants will appreciate it, but I wonder what Corona thinks they're getting out of this. Since we don't know who 'Observer' is, they could send anyone. Why send a family?"

"I'm sure if they send anybody but 'Observer' you'll be able to figure it out within a few hours. You read his paper and I'll bet you have a good idea of how he'd set up a research program. So you can ask what he plans when he gets here," Anna said. "But if Alexander Morris is 'Observer' and they're actually sending him and his family, I think Corona may just be doing this to assuage their insult to you. Wow," Anna laughed. "We write _great_ guilt."

Elsa giggled. "All right, we'll examine this gift horse more carefully when it arrives. I'll write to King Philip and accept his offer." She became more serious, "In the mean time, can you handle correspondence with the Morris family for me? Find out what they need in the way of lodging. And what Mr. Morris requires in the way of laboratory space and my time. While there's plenty of unused room here for experimental space, my time is a limited resource. We're going to need something to keep him occupied." She stopped pacing and snapped her fingers, "See if he can teach at the college when we're not working together."

"Sure, I can do that."

* * *

Alexander Morris arrived home from his workshop at the Academy to find his wife and daughter waiting impatiently for him outside the door to their house. Sarah was a short, curly brown haired, brown eyed, matronly woman in her mid-forties who had a very cute face and normally had smiling eyes. They weren't smiling now. Ruth was a tall girl with blue eyes and short straight blonde hair. Her face showed concern. Alex's heart sank when he saw that Sarah held a heavy envelope with the royal crest of Arendelle embossed on it. She was holding the short edge with one hand and tapping the rest of it against her other hand.

"Since when do we receive mail from the Arendelle royal court?" she asked.

"Um.. since the King decided to send us there for a year?" he replied sheepishly.

"The King is sending us to _Arendelle_?" asked Sarah.

"For a _year_?" asked Ruth.

"What about my practice?" asked Sarah.

"What about my classes?" asked Ruth.

"What about my book!"

"What about my boyfriend!"

Alex felt like a castle under siege. "Sarah, Ruth, I'm sorry. You remember that paper I wrote on Queen Elsa's powers? The one using information from Princess Rapunzel's book? Well, Queen Elsa took offense." He took a deep breath, then quickly continued before they could react, "Even so, she was interested enough in some of my ideas that she wants to work with me. King Philip decided to send us and asked me to make an equipment list. Um.. I've been planning experiments and working on the list for a month and forgot I never told you."

Sarah was furious, but puzzled. "If she's interested, how could she take offense?"

"Uh.. Remember how it went with Princess Rapunzel?"

"Oh, Dad!" Ruth rolled her eyes. "Didn't you learn _anything_ that time?"

"At least Arendelle doesn't have an ambassador in Corona to black your eye," said Sarah.

**A/N - And that's the last we'll see of Corona. Sorry for the short chapters, they'll get longer soon. And sorry for the long delays. And thank you to those who have reviewed and are following.  
**


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

The Corona trade ship Sunfish arrived in Arendelle harbor late in the afternoon, a day ahead of schedule. The clouds above the fjord cliffs glowed pink in the gathering sunset. Waterfalls sent mist into the evening sky. Lanterns were being lit in the houses surrounding the port. As soon as the ship was docked, the captain sent a crew member to the customs office to obtain clearance to unload. Having been given notice to watch for this ship the customs officer sent a runner to the castle to inform the staff that the Morris family had arrived a day early.

* * *

Anna knocked on the open door to Elsa's office. Elsa looked up from her nearly finished work.

" 'Observer' and his family are here a day early," said Anna.

"Well, there's no way we can get the formal reception dinner moved up a day in the next hour. And we can't just drop them into an unprepared cottage. Have Kai invite them to stay at the castle for a couple of days. We can have an informal welcome dinner, and I can ask about the research plan without any extra listeners."

"You still think Mr. Morris may be a spy?"

"It doesn't hurt to start checking. Give me a few more minutes to finish up here and have the kitchens prepare for a small dinner at seven o'clock."

"Aren't you going to change? You know, make a grand entrance wearing ice?"

"No, I'll save that for the reception tomorrow. After all, they've been on a ship for days, and all of their finery is still packed away. I think work clothes are fine for an informal dinner.

* * *

After a brief but thorough inspection, the Sunfish was given leave to unload, but seeing as it was late in the day only the Morris family and their trunks and crates were offloaded. A steward from the castle arrived as the last of the crates, marked "Fragile, Glass Tubing", was gently set on the dock. He was followed by a small group of servants with carts.

"Alexander Morris? Of the Corona Royal Academy?" he asked.

Alex answered, "Yes, I'm Alex Morris. These are my wife Sarah and our daughter Ruth."

"Excellent. My name is Kai and I'm the Chief Steward of Arendelle Castle. I hope your voyage was smooth and uneventful. It's too late in the day to move you into your cottage and even if it weren't, it would be poor hospitality not to welcome you with a proper meal and an opportunity to meet Queen Elsa and Princess Anna. If you've no objection, you will be housed in two of the guest rooms of the castle and your crates will be housed in the stable for a couple of days."

Sarah sighed with relief and replied, "That would be wonderful, Chief Steward. I dreading trying to put together a dinner in an unfamiliar kitchen from just the supplies we'd packed."

After supervising loading their crates and baggage onto the carts the Morris family followed Kai to the castle, Ruth wondering at the beauty of fjord at twilight, Sarah wondering what new plants she might encounter, and Alex wondering how to harness the power of the water cascading over the cliffs.

After being shown to their rooms in the castle, the Morris family were informed that dinner would take place almost immediately.

"But we can't meet the royal family dressed like this!" objected Ruth, indicating the travel worn clothes they all wore. "This is a nightmare!"

"The trunks won't be here until it's too late," said Sarah. "The royal family will just have to deal with us as we are."

After quickly washing up, they were led to the dining room by a servant. The dining room had a large table set for forty, but other than their guide they were the only people there.

"Where is everybody?" asked Alex.

"We're a day early, Alex. There's probably a larger welcome arranged for tomorrow. It's just as well, we're hardly dressed for a formal reception."

* * *

"Ready?" asked Anna.

"...Yes," answered Elsa.

"You hesitated," stated Anna.

"No, I didn't," said Elsa. "... All right, yes, I hesitated." She fumbled for words. "Why doesn't meeting new people ever get easier? It's particularly strange this time. I feel like a student about to be grilled by her teacher."

"Are you afraid he'll judge you? Admittedly, he has a strange perspective and he is here to push your limits, but his paper didn't show a hint of judgement. Besides, you're Elsa, Queen of Arendelle! Holder of a love of 'almost inconceivable' power with boundless potential, and the best queen we've ever had." Anna reached over and gave her sister a quick hug.

Anna's words and hug buoyed Elsa's spirits and she stood straighter. "All right. I'm ready. Have Kai announce us."

**A/N - Ok, next chapter the Royal Family and the Morris Family finally meet.**


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

The door to the dining room opened, Kai stepped in, and announced, "Rise for Her Majesty Queen Elsa and Her Highness Princess Anna of Arendelle."

Alex, Sarah, and Ruth stood from the chairs they had been directed to. As the Queen and Princess entered, Alex bowed deeply and Sarah and Ruth curtseyed.

"We welcome the Morris family to Arendelle. Please, be seated," said Queen Elsa as she sat at the head of the table. Princess Anna sat to her right and Ruth sat next to her. Alex sat to the Queen's left with Sarah next to him.

"Your Majesty, Your Highness, we are pleased and honored to be here. If it's not being too forward, please call us Alex, Sarah, and Ruth," said Alex.

Elsa and Anna smiled. "Thank you Alex, Sarah, Ruth," said Elsa. "How was your voyage?" she asked, searching for a topic of conversation that would ease the stiffness and awkwardness around the table.

"It was unexpectedly smooth, as evidenced by our early arrival."

"_Well, that topic went nowhere_", thought Elsa. Anna came to her rescue, albeit from a very odd direction, "How did you and Alex meet, Sarah?"

Sarah smiled, and the tension in her face and shoulders relaxed, "Oh, that was quite a day! I was one of the midwives helping Queen Eleanor when the princess was born." She paused.

"And I was an engineer working on the floating lantern that was to be used to announce the princess's birth," Alex said.

Elsa observed to herself that this was obviously a tale they'd told together a number of times, and they were relaxing into the well worn story. Ruth was looking mortified, but tensions around the table were easing.

Anna interrupted, "Why did they need a special floating lantern? Isn't it just a light bag with a fire inside?"

Alex chuckled. "Your Highness, designing a floating lantern may seem like a simple task. However, if you want to keep from raining incendiaries on your subjects and the neighboring kingdoms, it takes a bit of design. My job was to develop a lightweight, efficient, and, most importantly, safe floating lantern."

He continued, "I had just finished the lantern and asked to meet with the King urgently. I didn't know the princess had been born shortly before. King Philip had me brought to the nursery. When I realized where I was, it dawned on me how awkward my presence was. But I couldn't just walk away. I delivered the lantern and explained how to use it. The King thanked me, asked me to wait, and left me standing there."

Sarah picked up the tale, "The other midwives and I were in the delivery room cleaning up after the princess's birth when King Philip stepped in and asked to speak with me. He told me that he was impressed by the way I had anticipated the Queen's needs during his daughter's birth. And that he wanted me to meet someone."

"When the King came back to the nursery he was accompanied by a pretty young woman with bloody hands," said Alex.

"And when I got to the nursery I saw a handsome young engineer who's clothes were covered with ink stains and grease," said Sarah.

"King Philip introduced her to me, said we ought to get to know one another, and gave us both the rest of the day off to do so."

"You don't ignore advice from a king. Over the course of a few weeks we found we liked each other. Our strengths complemented each other: his focus, my foresight."

"When we eventually married, King Philip made the royalties from the patents on my floating lantern our wedding gift," said Alex.

At this point the food arrived, and the conversation shifted to spices, regional flavors and favorite dishes. As the meal concluded, Elsa took control of the conversation.

"Alex, can you tell me your plans for exploring my magic?"

Alex swallowed his last bite of dessert and replied, "Your Majesty, I had planned to approach our work in four phases, the first concentrating on philosophical questions, the second on understanding the limits of your powers, the third concentrating on the effects of cold on the physical world, and the fourth being undecided until we'd learned what you can do."

Anna asked, "What do you mean by philosophical questions?"

"Your Highness, the first question is whether Queen Elsa's power is solely mediated by ice and snow, or if the cold can be generated independently from them."

"I'd never considered separating cold and ice!" said Elsa.

"The second question, Your Majesty, has to do with water. Millions of tons of ice and snow disappeared during the Great Thaw, without leaving so much as a cloud in the sky. Do Your Majesty's powers include the creation and destruction of water?"

"Millions.. of _tons_?" asked Anna in a small voice.

"Yes, Your Highness. Five square miles covered one foot deep with snow contains on the order of a million tons of water. Arendelle is considerably larger than that, and there were places of deeper snowfall."

"The third question has to do with what magic knows. How did Queen Elsa's magic know when to stop? Could it have taken the temperature beyond that of a typical Arendelle summer day? Does Queen Elsa have complete control of the balance point of these enormous forces? Or are there other limits in place?"

"Those are my big philosophical questions at this point," concluded Alex.

Anna looked at Elsa and mouthed the question, "Olaf?" Elsa shook her head and thought, "_We'd better hold off introducing him to Olaf_." It was clear to both sisters that Alexander Morris was 'Observer'.

Sarah noticed the silent conversation, and tried to work out what had been asked. The nearest she could tell, it was the word "olf," or possibly "ulf". From the conversational context it was something of a troubling and unforeseen philosophical nature. "_Oh well, remember it for later_" she thought.

"The limits I'd like to explore primarily have to do with precision of control," said Alex, who hadn't noticed anything. "Speed of temperature swings, size of the volume of action, depth of temperature, and the effects of Your Majesty's attention. As these first two phases are intimately tied to your powers, I consider them state secrets. Release of the results of these investigations will be at your discretion."

"I can see that I'll be getting a lot out this exploration," said Elsa. "What are you hoping to achieve from this work?"

Alex grinned and his eyes twinkled. "Your Majesty, I want to be a giant!"

"What?" asked Anna.

Sarah and Ruth rolled their eyes.

Elsa chuckled, "I understand. The third phase of the work."

"Exactly. We'll try to freeze alcohols. We'll try to liquify air. We'll push the known limits of materials and temperature and publish the results! If and when the study of cold catches up, we will have been there first. We'll be the giants upon who's shoulders future natural philosophers stand!"

"An admirable ambition, Alex," said Elsa. She smiled, then asked "Would you like to see a small sample of what you'll be working with?"

**A/N - Next chapter, the Morris family finally gets to see Elsa "Do the magic, do the magic!". A question for the readers: are the genre tags I've chosen representative of the story? Any suggestions as to better ones?  
**


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Queen Elsa and Princess Anna led the Morris family to the castle courtyard. The lamps had been lit and the courtyard glowed in the balmy evening air. Anna placed Alex, Sarah and Ruth where they'd have the best view of what was to come, then went to stand by Elsa. Anna loved to watch the look on visitor's faces when they saw what Elsa could do.

Elsa kept it simple. As she gathered a ball of snow out of thin air, the air in the courtyard chilled. Elsa tossed the snowball high into the air and a gentle fall of snow began, confined to the courtyard.

Elsa gestured, and the fountains froze into beautiful filigrees of ice filaments.

Eye's glowing in the lamplight, mouths gaping, the Morris family stared.

Elsa created a few fluffy piles of snow. Anna reached over, packed a snowball, and tossed it to Ruth, who caught it and grinned like a mad-girl.

Elsa stamped her foot and a sheet of ice immediately covered the courtyard. She waved a hand and everyone's shoes grew skating blades of ice. The Morris family promptly fell over. Ruth's snowball flew out of her hands and plopped onto the frozen surface of one of the courtyard fountains.

Anna, who had gotten very good at ice skating in the past year, hurried over to help them. Elsa dissipated the Morris's ice blades and skated over also.

"I'm so sorry," said Elsa. "I forget that not everyone ice skates." She made the ice sheet disappear, restarted the fountains and stopped the snowfall. The piles of snow scattered around the courtyard started to melt.

"That was _amazing_!" said Ruth.

"It's fantastic!" said Sarah.

"We're fine, Your Majesty. We very seldom see ice and snow and so don't ice skate. But even this little taste of your magic is utterly fascinating. I've got so much to think about, I'm never going to get to sleep tonight," said Alex with a grin.

Anna was helping Ruth and Sarah to their feet while Alex was talking and noticed their reaction to the word "fascinating." She could hardly help it. Their eyes widened and they looked at each other in dismay. Sarah's entire body tensed up, while Ruth slumped and shook her head. "_Ok, there's a story there. Maybe several,_" Anna thought.

"Why don't we let our guests head to bed, Elsa? They've had a long day and could probably use the rest. I'll guide them back to their rooms and see you later."

"Good idea. Don't let the questions keep you up all night, Alex. Sleep well, everyone."

"Thank you and good night, Your Majesty," said Alex.

* * *

Anna led Ruth, Sarah and Alex back to their rooms. Alex opened the door to their room and Sarah stepped inside. She turned back as Alex said, "Thank you for guiding us, Your Highness."

Anna said, "Oh, please, call"

Sarah met her eyes in a panic, shook her head emphatically and signaled NO, NO, NO with her hands.

Anna continued, lamely, ".. on.. the.. servants if you need anything." She looked quizzically at Sarah, who pointed to Ruth.

Alex noticed none of this, being deep inside his own head at the time. He said, "Thank you, we will. Good night Your Highness," and turned into the guest room and closed the door.

Anna turned to Ruth and whispered, "What was _that_?"

Ruth opened the door to her room and gestured for Anna to come inside.

"I'm sorry about that, Your Highness. Mom thinks it's important that Dad keep on _very _formal terms with nobility. It reminds him that he's dealing with powerful people and keeps him out of the dungeon. We try to help by using formal forms of address also."

"Does he end up in the dungeon.. often?" asked Anna.

Ruth smirked, "He's been there often enough that King Philip has outfitted his usual cell as a second office. The last time he was sent there was when the King got Queen Elsa's letter."

"Oh dear, that was partly my doing. Sorry about that."

Ruth laughed, "Actually, by now the cell is pretty comfy. He stayed there for a few days when Mom kicked him out of the house after we received the letter asking about what we would need in Arendelle. He hadn't told us we were moving."

Anna winced and looked guilty. "Ooh, sorry, that was all me."

"It's ok, Your Highness. We were furious and needed time to cool off. And at least he had someplace to go."

"So, how often does your father end up in the dungeon when he finds something 'fascinating'?" asked Anna with air quotes and a grin.

It was Ruth's turn to wince, "Ooh, you noticed?"

"Hard not to."

"Um.. not _too_ often. It's just that Dad sort of obsesses. Then he loses sleep. Then he gets cranky and rude and ends up insulting someone important." Ruth giggled. "I bet Mom is giving him an earful right now, and will probably make him take a sleeping draught before bed."

"Do you need to use formal address if your father's not around?"

"Other than to keep in practice, no, Your Highness."

"Then please, call me Anna."

Ruth laughed, then curtseyed. "It would be my honor and pleasure, Anna."

"Thank you." Anna opened the door and walked out into the hall. She turned back, grinned and said, "G'night Ruth. See you in the morning."

"Good night Anna."

* * *

Anna found Elsa in her office, frowning over a forestry report and an estimate of upcoming timber demand. She knocked at the door to announce her arrival.

Elsa looked up and smiled. "The Morris family is all settled?"

Anna nodded.

Elsa continued, "Alex raised some very interesting questions at dinner. I think I'm going to learn a lot about my powers working with him." She frowned. "But, of course, so will Corona."

"I thought the results of the first two phases were state secrets to be published only if you say so?"

"He's a citizen of Corona. There won't be a public release of information, but I'm sure that he'll be writing some very secret reports upon his return."

Anna pondered this for a moment. "The thing is, reports of what you can do have already been spread abroad, and probably exaggerated. I don't think there's going to be a lot more an enemy could learn from what you'll be working on. We're on good terms with Corona, and if the reports are secret, I don't think you have much to worry about."

"I hope you're right," Elsa said. Then she smiled. "By the way, I wanted to thank you for breaking the ice at dinner. How did you know to ask how they met?"

"We've had enough parties and balls since the gates opened that I figured out married couples _love_ to tell the story of how they met."

"Well, it was a good story. And you can see that King Philip made a good match. Alex would be pretty hopeless without Sarah."

"You don't know the half of it. Let me tell you what happened when I got them to their rooms..."

**A/N - Thanks to all who are following and reviewing.**


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Early the next morning Sarah and Ruth, leaving Alex still sleeping, went in search of breakfast. They wandered the halls of Arendelle Castle, taking random turns in hopes of returning to the dining room and found the library, a picture gallery, and increasing hunger and frustration. They finally encountered a guard and were led to the dining room where they found Queen Elsa finishing her breakfast. She waved them over so they could join her.

"Good morning Your Majesty," said Sarah.

"Good morning. How was your rest?"

"It was wonderful, Your Majesty. It was a relief to sleep in a bed that doesn't move."

"Excellent. I have to get to work, so Anna will be helping you coordinate the servants so you can open up your new home and start setting up Ruth's workshop and Alex's lab."

"Thank you Your Majesty. Do you know when Princess Anna will be available?" asked Sarah.

"Anna usually sleeps as if she were drugged. She'll probably wake about the same time as Alex does," said Elsa with a sly grin, and she left the room.

"_Wait_," thought Ruth, "_is she _teasing_ us?_"

"_And so we plunge into a maze of mirrors,_" thought Sarah, her eyes narrowing. "_She knows that I know that she knows that I drugged Alex. I wonder if she knows _why_?_"

"Ruth, tell me _precisely_ what you and Princess Anna discussed last night."

* * *

Three hours later Sarah and Ruth had visited the cottage they would be occupying for the coming year and returned to the castle. They had a guard lead them back to the dining room where they found both Alex and Princess Anna finishing breakfast. It had been a silent meal, with Anna still waking up, and Alex pondering his first investigations in light of the previous night's demonstration.

"Sarah, Ruth, did you find the cottage adequate?" asked Alex.

"It's cozy, but we can make it work," said Sarah. She addressed Anna, "Your Highness, Queen Elsa told us that you could help us coordinate moving everything to the cottage, workshop and lab."

"Sure, I can do that. Let me grab some servants and we'll get you set up. Keep enough stuff out of your trunks for the reception tonight and another overnight stay, ok?"

"Thank you, Your Highness."

* * *

As the last of the crates of equipment was being moved into the laboratory, Alex asked Anna, "I beg your pardon, Your Highness, but do you know of anywhere that I can obtain ordinary ice?"

"Do you mean ice that my sister didn't make?'

"Exactly."

"I've got just the guy for that," Anna said with a smirk. "I'll introduce you to him when he gets back in town the day after tomorrow."

* * *

The reception that evening was composed of five groups: doctors and midwives, academics from the college, jewelers (Arendelle having glazers, but no hot glass craftsmen), the Morris family, and the Royal family. Anna had had a heavy hand in the guest list and chosen the invitees so that each member of the Morris family would have a group with which they had something in common. Everyone was wearing their best. Elsa and Anna were resplendent in ice and party gown respectively.

Elsa's ice regalia, by now a common sight in Arendelle, didn't attract much attention from the majority of the reception guests. It was a major source of distraction for the Morris family. From the ice in her hair to the high heeled ice slippers on her feet there was something to attract every family member's attention. Alex marveled at the flexibility and compliance of the cloth-of-ice of the gown and cape and the strength of the ice that made up the slippers. Sarah was entranced by the delicate filigree of lacy ice and the way it seemed to flow and change. Ruth gazed in awe at the entire ensemble.

Ruth whispered, "Mom, check out the lace at the top of the Queen's gown!"

Sarah whispered back, "It's ice, dear. You can forget about buying a sample. The entire gown is ice."

"How does it _move_ that way?"

Alex leaned over and whispered, "If it were like fish scales there would be a lower layer they would be attached to, but it's obvious there isn't in the sheer ice on the arms and the cape. I'm guessing it's magic."

* * *

After dinner each professional group engaged in the time honored tradition of trading war stories. There was a wide gap between the medical practitioners and the other groups, as their stories tended to be about illness, amputations, births, deaths, and who had taken what out of whom (and what it looked and smelled like). The academics traded stories of the follies of their students, and the jewelers traded stories of work they were waiting to be paid for. Sarah and Alex were in their elements, but Ruth, being younger, not working in metal and not interested in running a shop was feeling a bit left out. Princess Anna was hovering on the edge of the medical crowd, listening with horrified interest and looking a little queasy.

Queen Elsa was circulating between the academics and the jewelers when she noticed Ruth drifting toward the edge of the room. She caught up with her.

"Is everything all right, Ruth?" asked Elsa.

"Oh, yes Your Majesty. Except that I don't really fit in with the jewelers. All they talk about is problems I hope never to deal with. Whenever Dad's colleagues laugh I always think they're laughing at things _I_ probably do. And don't get me started on what midwives and doctors talk about." She shuddered, "Yecch!"

Elsa laughed. "I understand. How is your family progressing with getting set up?"

"We visited the cottage and started getting stuff moved in there. It's nice. And I started moving things into my workshop. It's exactly what I need. Thank you."

"You're welcome."

Elsa and Ruth watched the three groups in the middle of the room for a moment.

Elsa looked over at Ruth, grinned, and said, "Anna tells me that your father finds my magic 'fascinating'."

Ruth groaned softly and slumped a bit. "I'm sorry, Your Majesty."

"Oh, come now, he can't be _that_ bad."

"Your Majesty, sometimes Dad can't see a tree for its bark."

"Don't you mean he can't see the forest for the trees?"

"No, Your Majesty, I don't. Dad gets _really_ focused."

"Give me an example."

Ruth thought for a moment. "Your Majesty, do you have a copy of the book that Princess Rapunzel illustrated about your coronation?"

"Yes, I have a copy that the princess hand watercolored in my library." Elsa didn't mention that the book sometimes induced nightmares, but her sudden anxiety caused the temperature in the room to drop several degrees.

Over among the academics, Alex noted the temperature drop and looked around the room. He noticed Ruth talking to the Queen and started to disengage himself from his colleagues.

"Ok, believe it or not, Your Majesty, that book is where Dad got _all_ of the data for his paper. If you think of the story the book tells as the forest, then the individual illustrations are the trees."

"I'm keeping up with you so far," Elsa said, somewhat sarcastically.

"One of the things Dad used to estimate the energy required to melt the fjord was the thickness of the ice sheet. Your Majesty, where do you think he got that number?"

Elsa tried to remember the illustrations, but couldn't recall any pictures showing the thickness of the ice sheet. "I don't know."

"If you asked Dad, he'd say it was the picture with the reindeer."

"The only picture with both a reindeer and ice that I recall is the one showing Kristoff and Sven bringing Anna to the gates of the castle, but that one doesn't show the thickness of the ice sheet."

Ruth suddenly looked very nervous. "Um.. the picture Dad means has a reindeer standing on an ice floe."

"I don't remember a picture like that," said Elsa. "What else was in the picture?"

"I-I'd rather not say."

"I insist. What else was in the picture?"

"Um.. Your Majesty.. please, _please _forgive me for bringing this up, but, um.. It's the one where you're kneeling on the ice, a-and.. Prince Hans is approaching with a sword, and.. P-princess Anna is running to stop him."

The temperature in the room plunged as Elsa remembered the despair and guilt she'd felt when Hans had told her that she'd killed her beloved sister. And dropped again as she recalled the image of Anna turned to ice. Ice started spreading from her feet and snowflakes started drifting down from the ceiling.

All eyes in the room turned toward Elsa and Ruth. Anna sprinted to Elsa while Alex and Sarah rushed toward Ruth.

"Elsa, what's wrong?" asked Anna.

Hearing Anna's voice recalled Elsa to the present. The room warmed, the ice retreated, and the snow disappeared.

In tears, Ruth said to Anna, "I'm sorry, Your Highness. I mentioned Princess Rapunzel's book on the coronation and it brought up bad memories. I'm so, so, _sorry_."

Elsa reached out and hugged Anna, took a deep breath, and let the memories of that terrible day go.

Elsa straightened, raised her voice and said to the assembled guests, "Princess Anna and I will be retiring for the night. Please, continue your conversations. The guards will see you out when you wish to leave." She and Anna left the room almost immediately after.

As Alex watched them leave he turned to make a comment to Sarah, but she held up a hand and cut him off. "Not. One. Word," she said. She turned to Ruth, who was leaning against the wall, ashen faced.

"_Ooh, I've _really_ messed up_," thought Ruth.

"Ruth Alice Morris, what have you _done_?"

* * *

Rapunzel's book on the Arendelle coronation lay open to 'that page' on Elsa's bed.

"_That's_ the one he calls 'The picture with the reindeer'?!"

"Yes!"

"That's not focus, it's like he's wearing blinders! Do you really want to work with someone so.. so.."

"Oblivious? Insensitive? I'm not sure. At this point we're stuck with him for a year, and we can't say that King Philip didn't warn us."

"What about Ruth? Could she have done this deliberately?"

"No, if I hadn't teased her, none of this would have come up. And she tried to stop but I kept on pushing. The worst she could be accused of would be not thinking ahead."

"Maybe we ought to follow King Philip's example and set up a Morris Family Cell in the dungeon. Or maybe a punch in the face can get Mr. Morris to focus on the foreground."

For the first time since leaving the reception Elsa finally smiled and relaxed. "I don't think that will be necessary."

"Are you going to be ok tonight? Do you want me to stay with you to help with the nightmares?"

"I'd appreciate it. Thank you, Anna."

* * *

Alex and Sarah were in their room, finishing a postmortem on the evening.

"I'll need to add a safety precaution if I ever actually get to work with the Queen."

"What's that?"

"No work with Queen Elsa unless Princess Anna is also present."

* * *

In Ruth's room, there was nothing but the occasional sound of sobbing.

**A/N - Many thanks to reviewer PascalDragon for noting that I had implicitly made a promise in the previous chapter and hadn't fulfilled it. To wit, describing the Morris family reaction to Elsa's Ice Regalia. This revised chapter fulfills that implied promise.**


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Nobody slept well that night.

Elsa's sleep, and therefore Anna's, was punctuated by nightmares.

Ruth spent the night wondering what she could have said differently, or what would have happened if she'd used a different anecdote, or if she could ever apologize enough to either Queen Elsa or Princess Anna for upsetting the Queen, or if Princess Anna would ever let her call her Anna again, or if she'd ruined her father's chance to be a giant, or, as the night sky lightened toward sunrise, any number of less coherent things.

Sarah and Alex spent much of the night searching for a way to re-establishing cordial relations with the royal family. Before they left Ruth for the night, they'd found out what she'd told the Queen. In light of the audience, the "picture with the reindeer" story was extraordinarily provocative, and might result in the family being sent back to Corona. After several hours they came up with a plan, which primarily revolved around Sarah getting an audience with the Queen and Princess.

* * *

Elsa had a full day of work, so she put the Morris family out of her mind and got on with it.

Anna fell asleep after Elsa left and woke at noon. She was annoyed that she had essentially promised to introduce Mr. Morris to Kristoff, and would have to talk with him again. She considered adding an introduction to Olaf, just to mess with his head.

Sarah arranged for a late afternoon meeting with the Queen and Princess. Until then, she and the rest of the family established their household. They cleaned, unpacked, purchased groceries, ate lunch, and practiced different ways the meeting could go.

* * *

Elsa sat on the throne, dressed in ice as was her custom on days where she held public audiences. Anna stood by her side. Sarah stood before them. She didn't meet their eyes and seemed to be carefully examining Elsa's garment.

"Thank you for seeing me, Your Majesty, Your Highness.

Elsa sighed and said, "Please state your business, Sarah. It's been a long day."

"If I may, I'd like to tell you a story. It's not true, but it _is_ illustrative. Three men were to be executed by guillotine, a priest, a lawyer, and an engineer. As the priest was led to the guillotine the magistrate asked if he had any last words. After protesting his innocence, the priest ended with, 'May God forgive this court the shedding of innocent blood.' His head was laid in the guillotine and the cord was pulled. The blade stopped halfway down the track. The magistrate took this as a sign from heaven and the priest was set free. Next up was the lawyer, and having seen how it went for the priest, he tried the same tactic, proclaiming his innocence and praying for forgiveness for his executioners. His head was laid in the guillotine and when the cord was pulled, the blade again stopped halfway down. The lawyer was released. Finally, the engineer was asked if he had any last words. 'No, your honor, I ask only that I be laid on the guillotine face up.' The magistrate, seeing no reason not to grant this request had the engineer laid on the guillotine face up. As the executioner was about to pull the cord the engineer said, 'Wait, your honor, I think I see the problem...'."

There was a quickly stifled snort of laughter from one of the guards.

"What!" said Anna.

Elsa laughed. "So, engineers focus to the point of self-destruction?"

Sarah smiled, slowly raised her head and met Elsa's eyes.

"_Yes_, Your Majesty. After Princess Rapunzel's encounter with Alex, she came up with a name for it. She called it 'Microscope Mind' for the exquisitely detailed vision and the _teeny tiny_ field of view."

"Wait, Princess Rapunzel worked with Alex?" asked Anna.

"Yes. That escapade cost him a black eye and two weeks in the dungeon."

"Whoa!" said Anna. "So he's like that a lot? How can you stay with someone so.. so.."

"Blinkered?" asked Sarah. "Because _most_ of the time he's a caring, intelligent gentleman who's honest to a fault. Engineers find it very hard to lie. It might be due to the nature of their work. After all, no persuasion in the world will float a lantern if it's too heavy. Alex is the most guileless person I know. The 'Picture with the Reindeer' story comes from a time when he was deeply focused on his analysis and he fully realizes how inappropriate it is."

Elsa smiled and said, "Very well. Anna and I were considering sending you all back to Corona on the next ship, but we'll give Alex a chance."

"Thank you, Your Majesty, Your Highness."

"Was there anything else?" asked Elsa.

"Three things. First, can you find it in your hearts to forgive Ruth? She's devastated at the thought that she's hurt either of you. Remember, all we know about the events surrounding Your Majesty's coronation is what's in Princess Rapunzel's book. A children's picture book. That I'm certain was edited heavily to take out the scariest parts. Without the full story, none of us can know what you've both been through, what will be taken as insult, what will result in anxiety. Even so, Ruth is sorry she didn't think about what she was saying. Will you forgive her?"

"Certainly," said Elsa. "Sure," said Anna.

"Thank you Your Majesty, Your Highness. Second, Alex would like Princess Anna to be present whenever he works with Queen Elsa."

"Why?" asked Anna.

"He saw that when the temperature dropped at the reception last night, Your Highness's voice was enough to get Queen Elsa to return the temperature to normal. He feels your presence might be necessary in case of emergency. And if you think he's falling into Microscope Mind you can talk to him. Or apply the usual remedy, a fist to the face and a trip to the dungeon.

Anna laughed. "Ok. I'll be there."

"Thank you Your Highness."

"And the last thing?" asked Elsa.

"I want to thank Your Majesty and Your Highness for hearing me out, and to wish you a pleasant evening."

"Good evening, Sarah," said Elsa.

* * *

After dinner, Elsa headed for her office for her evening's work accompanied by Anna. In the hall outside her office door she turned to Anna and said, "How did Sarah get us to agree to work with Alex? We were so mad at him last night we were ready to send them home! Yet she tells a joke and an anecdote and we agree to forgive."

"Maybe it was all the talk about how engineers are so honest? You were worried that Alex might be a spy. And Ruth did seem really sorry last night."

"Do you think she knows that we think that he might be a spy?"

"Let's not do the 'I know that you know that I know...' thing. It gives me headaches."

Elsa laughed. "All right, we'll just keep examining the gift horse's teeth. There is one thing I'm glad of, though."

"What's that."

"If that meeting was planned, I'm glad Sarah's not a trade negotiator for Corona."

* * *

**A/N - I hope you're enjoying the story so far. Reviews are welcome, and sometimes acted upon (c.f. Chapter 7).**


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Late in the morning the next day a castle guard peeked into the lecture hall Alex was teaching in.

Alex noticed the guard at the door and said, "And that wraps up our introduction to vector algebra for today. I'll see you in three days, and I'll expect today's assignment to be completed and handed in at that time. Class dismissed."

As the students gathered their materials, Alex walked out of the lecture hall, found the guard and introduced himself.

"Hello, I'm Alex Morris. Did the Princess send you?"

"Yes Mr. Morris. Princess Anna expects you at the Royal Stables in fifteen minutes. Please follow me."

* * *

The guard returned to his duties as Alex entered the Royal Stables. The first thing Alex saw was a large reindeer with its head in a feeding trough filled with hay spiked with the occasional carrot. He recognized it immediately from the pictures in Rapunzel's book and greeted it by name, "Good morning, Sven."

The reindeer raised its head from the food, looked at him and raised one eyebrow quizzically.

Joking, Alex asked, "Have you seen Princess Anna?"

The reindeer grunted and indicated a direction with its head and antlers. When Alex glanced in that direction he saw Anna.

"..Thank..you..Sven," said Alex, a bit nonplussed at having received an apparently intelligent response. Sven grunted and returned to eating. Turning to Anna, Alex said, "Good morning Your Highness."

"Good morning Alex," said Anna, surprised at seeing Alex engaging in conversation with Sven. She knew Sven was astonishingly intelligent, for a reindeer, but having a newcomer ask Sven a question as if expecting an answer was strange.

"..Anyway, this is Kristoff Bjorgman, Arendelle's Official Ice Master and Deliverer." She said proudly, indicated a tall, blonde man standing next to her. "Kristoff, this is Alex Morris, the natural philosopher that I was telling you about."

"Pleased to meet you Mr. Morris," said Kristoff as he shook Alex's hand. And he was pleased, as not many people realized how smart Sven was right away.

"The pleasure's mine Mr. Bjorgman," said Alex. He paused for a moment, then asked, "Pardon me, but did the post of Official Ice Master and Deliverer exist before Queen Elsa's coronation?"

"Well, no," said Kristoff, feeling a bit less pleased.

"And were you the one who negotiated the delivery of ice to Corona late this past July? It was wonderful to be able to make ice cream through the summer."

"Well, yes," said Kristoff, mollified.

"Hmmm." Alex pondered briefly, then said, "Queen Elsa must be a very good chess player."

"She is," said Anna. "I never win when we play. Wait. How did you figure that?"

"Well, think about it. With one appointment Queen Elsa has done three things: rewarded Mr. Bjorgman for his services after the coronation, groomed him for a position in the government, and maintained and expanded an export industry so it will outlive her. She's making moves forty to sixty years ahead. She probably strategizes many moves ahead in chess as well. I must admit I'm a terrible chess player, Sarah wins all our games."

Anna and Kristoff, who's mouths had dropped open during Alex's explanation, snapped them shut.

"..Ok. Well.. Kristoff is your guy for all non-magical things ice."

"Thank you, Your Highness," said Alex. He turned toward Kristoff. "Before I actually start working with Queen Elsa I need to have a better understanding of the properties of natural ice. I'd like to talk with you and run some experiments so I'll know if and when ice is magically enhanced."

"Sure, we can do that."

* * *

That afternoon, Alex knocked on the door to Ruth's workshop. The workshop door had a window, so he could see that she was there, arranging her supplies. "Is it safe to come in?" he asked.

She turned from the shelf where she was placing a padded box filled with individually wrapped ground glass fittings. "Hi Dad. Yep, it's safe, come on in. I'm still setting up, so nothing's hot at the moment."

Crates of glass rods and tubes were arranged along the walls of the workshop and a bench with torches had been set up in the center of the room. The castle lighting gas supply had been tapped to provide fuel. A treadle powered air compressor was situated under the workbench.

"When do you think you'll be ready to get going? I've drawn up some plans for glasswork I'm going to need before our first session with Queen Elsa." Alex pulled a piece of paper from a pocket, unfolded it and laid it on the bench. On it was a drawing of a Y shaped tube with a spigot on the bottom branch. The two upper branches sat in an open bowl shaped container that came halfway up their lengths.

"What is this?" asked Ruth.

"It's part of an air dryer. I want a source of dry air, so if you can make me three of these I'll put cold water in the first bowl, ice water in the second bowl, and an ice/brine solution in the third bowl. I'll connect them with gutta-percha tubes. Air passed through the system will get drier as the water condenses out. The spigots will let me drain the water that condenses."

"Does it have to be spigots? We only have a limited supply. Could you put a gutta-percha tube on the bottom of the Y and clamp it closed? Open it when you want to drain the water?"

"Good idea, that's a better way to go."

"Ok. So, when do you need these? It better not be tomorrow."

"The first session with Queen Elsa is next Wednesday afternoon, so there's no rush."

"All right. Just remember I've got classes and schoolwork too. So no rush jobs in the future either."

"About that. I've looked over your curriculum, and I'm a little disappointed. It's mostly local history and culture. Very little math or natural philosophy."

"Dad, ignorance of 'local history and culture' nearly got us sent back to Corona. This way, it's not gonna be _my_ fault if we're kicked out."

"Hmmm. Maybe I should take a look at your textbooks."

Ruth rolled her eyes. "Go away, Dad. Let me get back to work."

"Bye, Ruth. Be home before dinner."

* * *

"Elsa, it was the weirdest thing," said Anna at dinner that evening. "He greeted Sven by name and talked to him as if he expected an answer. Sven being Sven, he got one. Could he know more than he's letting on?"

"Well, Princess Rapunzel's book does give Kristoff and Sven's names, but it doesn't tell much of their part in the story. And I know she and her consort never got the full story of the coronation. It might be a coincidence, or perhaps there are intelligent animals in Corona. Was that all?"

"Well, there was something else. Elsa, why did you make Kristoff Arendelle's Royal Ice Master and Deliverer? I only promised him a sled."

"A sled seemed too meagre a reward for the help he gave you during the Freeze." Elsa looked a little uncomfortable. "And after you told me your part of the story I could tell the two of you were interested in each other." Elsa looked very uncomfortable. "I wanted him to have a position where I could work with him and find out what he was like. A position that earned a steady income in case he started courting you. A position where he could develop leadership and people skills." She giggled. "Honestly, he was even worse at dealing with people than I was."

Anna stared at Elsa, eyes wide. "But why do we even need an Ice Master and Deliverer? Can't you create all the ice we could ever need?"

"And do what with all the unemployed ice harvesters? Besides, ice is an expanding part of our export market, and I'm not going to live forever. If Arendelle is dependent on my magic for trade, or defense for that matter, the kingdom will be gobbled up as soon as I die." Elsa looked pensive, and nibbled her lower lip.

"Oh, Elsa," said Anna. "I'm sorry I brought it up." She hesitated, but had to indulge her curiosity, "Do you think this way all the time?"

"Well, yes. I always have to plan for the long term. Why did you bring up the subject anyway?"

"After I introduced Kristoff, Mr. Microscope asked a couple of questions and came to the conclusion that you must play a mean game of chess."

"How did he guess that?"

"Essentially, he deduced a lot of the reasons you made Kristoff the Ice Master and said if you can plan sixty years into the future, you must be a very good chess player."

"I can see I'll have to call on Mr. Morris for a game."

"He says he's a terrible player. You'll be better off playing against Sarah. Evidently she's the chess master in the family."

Elsa narrowed her eyes as she considered this. "After yesterday's audience with her, I can believe it."


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

It was Monday afternoon and Anna was bored. Elsa was presiding over a meeting of ministers (boring), Kristoff was talking about ice with Mr. Microscope (boring), and she'd already had a conversation with Sven (interesting, but limited in scope). She was headed out of the castle to see if there was anything happening in the village when she noticed a flickering light coming through the window of a door.

As she came closer she heard the soft whirring sound of a treadle powered compressor. Looking in through the door's window, she saw Ruth sculpting a small unicorn from glass. The body, head and legs were already complete. A touch and a twist with a glass rod, a cut with the flame, and the horn was formed. A blob of glass applied to the back end and pulled out with tweezers, and the tail was formed. A smear of glass on the back and some tweezer work and the mane was formed. Anna waited until Ruth put down the unicorn, stopped pumping the compressor and shut off the gas.

Anna knocked at the door: knock-knock-knockknock-knock.

Ruth looked up and smiled. She was wearing goggles "Good afternoon Your Highness."

Anna started to open the door and Ruth jumped out of her seat, held up her hand and shouted, "No! Stop!"

"What?!"

"Did you read the signs on the door, Your Highness?"

"Well, no. I saw the flickering light and heard the whirring and wanted to see what was going on." Anna backed up and read the signs covering the door, " 'Danger! Hot glass looks like cold glass!', 'Danger! Hot glass burns', 'Danger! All glass cuts!', 'Danger! Open flame!', 'Stay Out'."

Ruth took off her goggles, stretched and walked over to the door, opened it and stepped out into the hall. "Up until last year, glass was more of a hobby for me than anything else. Now Dad has me help him with glassware if he needs something special. But look at my hands."

Ruth held her hands palms up and Anna looked. They showed the calluses and scars of numerous cuts and burns. "When I started I was a complete klutz. I had to wear gloves when I went to school to hide the burns and scars. And also to hide them from Dad. I don't get burned or cut very often any more, but I don't want anyone else getting hurt, so it's better not to let people into my workshop."

"Why don't you lock the door?"

"In case something _really_ goes wrong. If the door's locked, no one can rescue me."

"Good point. I like the unicorn, by the way."

"Thank you Your Highness. Ceramic unicorns were a fad in Corona the first year after Princess Rapunzel returned, so when I started playing with glass I tried my hand at making glass ones. They're something of a warm-up exercise at this point. If you'd like it, I'll pop it into the annealing oven and bring it when we have our first session with Queen Elsa."

"I'd love it! Thanks! Speaking of Corona, do you have any intelligent animals there?"

"Intelligent.. _animals_, Your Highness?"

"You know, animals that seem to understand their owners, and seem to talk back?"

"Oh! Yes, Your Highness. But I really only know of two: Maximus, the horse of the Captain of the Guard; and Pascal, Princess Rapunzel's pet chameleon. They're both pretty smart." Ruth giggled. "Actually, Maximus is probably smarter than a lot of Guardsmen."

"Interesting. I'll have to introduce you to Sven. And hey! What's with all the Your Highnessing?"

"Um.. after the reception I wasn't sure..."

"Didn't your Mom tell you Elsa and I forgave you?"

"Yes.. but.. I didn't want to push my luck."

"Well, when your Dad's not around, it's Anna, ok?"

Ruth grinned. "Absolutely, Anna."

"Anyway, I'm headed to the village, want to come along?"

"I'd love to, but I need to build some stuff for Dad before Wednesday. The unicorn _was_ a warm-up exercise, after all. But if you're at loose ends, I'm sure Mom could use a guide to shopping in the village. We need to buy winter gear, but we're having a hard time finding it."

"Didn't you bring winter gear from Corona?"

"Yes, but winters in Arendelle are much harsher than in Corona. Our biggest, thickest coats and blankets aren't up to an Arendelle winter. And evidently, a lot of the best winter gear here is hand made, passed down and accumulated over generations."

"Sure, I can help your Mom. See you later."

"Thanks. Bye Anna."

* * *

Sarah gratefully accepted Anna's offer of guidance through the village shops and had soon purchased the majority of the Morris family's winter gear. As they exited the shop where Sarah had bought three eiderdowns and arranged for their delivery, Anna spied a familiar snow flurry.

Anna grinned and thought, "_Let's see how the chess master deals with Olaf_."

"Let's stop here, Sarah. There's a member of the royal family you haven't met yet," said Anna as she pointed toward Olaf's flurry.

Sarah looked in the direction indicated and saw a small cloud dropping snow on a small snowman. _That was leaning over to sniff a small purple flower_. Sarah's jaw dropped as her mind went into overdrive. "_Obviously created by Queen Elsa. Alive? Theological nightmare! How is it _smelling_ through a _carrot_? What is it inhaling _into_? Princess Anna says it's a member of the royal family. Treat it as such."_

"Hey! Olaf!" called Anna.

Olaf looked up, waved and called back "Hi Anna!" He started over.

Anna stole a glance at Sarah and grinned at the look on her face. "_She may be a chess master, but she's no poker player_," she thought.

Sarah's jaw snapped shut and her eyes narrowed slightly. "_Olaf. So that's the philosophically disturbing 'olf' from our first night. Masculine name. Call him 'he' not 'it'."_

Olaf arrived and introduced himself. "Hi! I'm Olaf, and I like warm hugs!"

Sarah smiled at him, knelt down, and shook a twig-like hand. "How do you do, Olaf. I'm Sarah, and I enjoy warm hugs also. It's a pleasure to meet you."

Anna's eyes widened in surprise.

"It's nice meeting you too!"

"May I ask you a question, Olaf?" asked Sarah. "What did that flower smell like?"

"Oh, it was sweet, with hints of cherry and cinnamon."

"It sounds lovely. Do you think I should get some seeds for the window boxes of our cottage?"

"Probably not. They won't have time to grow and flower before winter. Maybe for next spring."

"You're right. I'll just get some of the cut ones for the dining table. Excuse me, Olaf, Your Highness. I'll be right back." Sarah headed for the flower vendor.

Olaf said to Anna, "I like her. She's nice."

Anna said, distractedly, "Yeah, she is."

"And quicker on the uptake then most people you introduce me to."

"Yeah, she is."

"Oh look, she's coming back."

"Yeah, she is." Anna shook her head. "Wow."

Sarah walked up to Anna and Olaf and gave Olaf one of the flowers she had purchased. "I'm sorry, Olaf. I've got to get home and start preparing dinner. It was, quite literally, wonderful to meet you." She turned to Anna. "Your Highness, thank you for your help with our winter preparations."

Anna said, "I'll come with you, Sarah. There's something I want to ask you." Turning to Olaf she said, "See you later, Olaf!"

"Bye," said Olaf and went off smiling, smelling the flower in his twiggy hand.

"What can I help you with, Your Highness?" asked Sarah.

"Can you _not_ tell Alex about Olaf?"

"Ooh, I'm not sure that's a good idea Your Highness. We try not to keep secrets from one another."

"Please?"

"I _really_ don't think this is a good idea. Alex hates surprises."

"_Please_?"

Sarah chewed her lower lip. "Nothing good can come of this... Oh, very well, Your Highness." She grinned, then said, "On three conditions."

Anna was nearly prancing with joy. "This will be so much _fun_! What are the conditions?"

"You can't hold Alex's reaction against him. Even if he calls Olaf 'fascinating'."

"Fine, no repercussions, no objections to 'fascinating'."

"Someone has to be ready with a chair or some other support to keep him from hitting the floor."

"No problem."

Sarah's grin widened. "And I want to be there to watch."

Anna laughed.

* * *

Dinner time was approaching, and Ruth was preparing to shut down her workshop. The last of the air dryer sections was cooling on the workshop table and she was turning off the torches when the door opened and a small cloud, dropping snow, entered the room, followed immediately by a small snowman.

"Can't anyone in this castle _read_?" screamed Ruth as she quickly ducked behind the workbench. Snow dropped onto the hot glass, shattering it and sending pieces flying.

"Hi! I'm Olaf, and I've been impaled!"

Ruth came around from behind the workbench to see Olaf with a large chunk of the air dryer's bowl embedded in his head. Which had been detached from his body. The hot glass was rapidly melting a hole in Olaf's head.

"Oh no no no no no! Queen Elsa's gonna _kill_ me! Then deport my folks and send my corpse back to Corona in a block of _ice_!"

"Why would she do that?" asked Olaf as his body waddled over and carefully re-attached his head. He plucked the now cooled chunk of bowl from his head and carefully placed it on the workbench.

"Because I've killed.. her.. living... Wait, you're not dying, are you?"

"Well, I've got a hole in my head, but a little snow will take care of that."

"Then let's get to Queen Elsa and get you patched up."

Olaf led Ruth through the castle to Queen Elsa's office. While they walked, Ruth introduced herself. Upon their arrival, Olaf knocked on Elsa's open door.

Elsa looked up from her work and smiled when she saw Olaf. Then she looked more carefully. "Olaf! What happened to you, little guy?"

Ruth timidly peeked around the door frame and answered, "Um.. that would be hot glass damage, Your Majesty."

Elsa asked, "Didn't you read the signs on the workshop door, Olaf?"

"I didn't see any signs."

Ruth asked, "How could you not see any signs? They're right.. at.. Oy! Eye level! I'm sorry Olaf, you'd never have seen them."

"What do they say?"

"The gist of it is 'keep out'." Ruth turned to address Elsa. "Can Olaf be patched up?"

Elsa answered, "Certainly." And with a wave of her hand, Olaf's head was as good as new.

Ruth squatted in front of Olaf and asked, "How can I make this up to you, Olaf? Can I make you something out of glass?"

"Can you make me a snowman?"

"Sure! I'll make it after I make one more air dryer section tomorrow morning." Ruth laughed, then said, "Mom and Dad are gonna freak when they hear about this."

"Ruth?" asked Elsa, "Could you not tell your parents about Olaf? Anna and I want to formally introduce him to them after our first Lab session."

"Oh. Ok." Ruth remembered who she was talking to, then said, "I mean, yes Your Majesty."

* * *

Elsa finished enough of her work that she was able to have dinner with Anna.

Anna told her about her afternoon talking to Sven, watching Ruth finish the unicorn and shopping with Sarah. "And then I saw Olaf wandering around, so I called him over."

Elsa giggled in anticipation. "How did Sarah take it?"

"Elsa, it was amazing. When I pointed out Olaf to her, her jaw dropped and her eyes went wide. I called him over, her jaw shut, her eyes narrowed, and by the time he introduced himself she was under _perfect_ control. She had it together enough to ask questions."

"What kind of questions?"

"When she first saw him, Olaf was smelling a flower. She asked him what it smelled like. Then she asked about growing some seeds in her window boxes. It was like she was testing his senses and intelligence! But in the _nicest_ possible way."

"Wow."

"That's what _I_ said. Even Olaf noticed that she was fast on the uptake."

"That's a little scary."

"Well, if she's a chess master, at least she's no poker player. Just watch her eyes. They narrow when she's scheming."

"That's good to know." Elsa looked disappointed. "But I guess we won't get to spring Olaf on Alex."

"Oh, but we will! I had to agree to Madam Foresight's terms, but I think the meeting will be 'fascinating'."

* * *

**A/N - Thanks again to PascalDragon, who wanted to read about Ruth's meeting with Olaf. That scene originally didn't exist, but it was fun enough to incorporate in a revised Chapter 10.**


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Elsa, Anna and a guard approached the workroom that was to be the laboratory. It had a sign over the door that labeled it the "Land of the Giants". Inside, they found Alex, Sarah, Ruth, and Kristoff waiting for them.

At a questioning look from Anna, Kristoff said, "Hey, ice is still my life, and I've been helping Alex get ready."

Sarah noted the presence of the guard and thought, "_We _do_ have the entire royal family of Arendelle gathered in one place. Elsa still doesn't trust us_."

Alex cleared his throat. "Thank you for being here Your Majesty, Your Highness. Before we begin, I think we need to establish some ground rules. These go for everyone." He looked everyone in the room in the eye.

"First, everybody goes home at the end of the day with life, limb and senses intact. Safety is of primary importance. We'll talk through each experiment before it's performed. If anything is unclear or you think it's unsafe, stop me until you're satisfied. Misunderstandings and poor communications _kill_. This goes for _everyone_. And everybody wears eye protection," he handed out goggles to everyone.

"Second, if, despite precautions, an accident occurs, Sarah is in charge until the castle physicians can get here." He turned to her. "Why don't you unlock the emergency supplies and explain what we have."

Sarah took a key from a chain around her neck and walked over to a large green chest labeled "For Emergency Only". She unlocked and opened the chest. Inside were gauze, bandages, splints, stitching silk and needles, a large number of glass vials with white stoppers, a smaller number of vials with green stoppers, and a yellow chest labeled "For Extreme Emergency Only."

Sarah said, "It's pretty obvious. We can apply a compress to a wound, stitch it together and possibly stabilize a broken bone. The white stoppered vials contain an infection preventative that is to be applied to any cut or scrape. The green stoppered vials contain another agent that should not be used unless I apply it. If things are _very_ bad, we open the yellow chest. Pray that it never gets that bad."

Alex said, "Whenever we're working here, the green box will be unlocked."

Alex reached behind himself and picked up a blank journal from a work bench. "Third, if it isn't written down, it didn't happen. Normally everyone would have their own journal, but since these enquiries are to be state secrets I feel that protecting a single document will be easier. Ruth has legible handwriting, so she will be our recorder today." He handed Ruth the journal, a bottle of ink, a quill, and a blotter. He turned to Elsa and said, "Your Majesty, at the end of each session the journal will be handed into your care to protect as you will."

"And with those preliminaries out of the way, we'll begin." Alex turned to Anna. "Your Highness, do you remember the first philosophical question I wanted to answer?"

"Whether the cold and the ice could be separated?"

"Exactly. Before you arrived Ruth and Kristoff prepared two flasks. As you can see, they have thermometers sticking out of their stoppers. One of these flasks is filled with room air. The other flask is filled with air that is as dry as we can make it. I don't know which is which." He turned to Elsa. "Your Majesty, I'd like you to try and cool the air in these flasks. If they cool at different rates, it may be that water in some form is necessary for your magic to work. If the moisture in the air is irrelevant, then the magic doesn't care."

Alex started a metronome set to the slowest speed. "Ruth, I'd like you to record the temperatures each time the metronome clicks."

Anna said, "That seems simple enough. Is there anything that can go wrong?"

"Excellent! I'm glad you asked. If Queen Elsa drops the temperature so far that the air liquifies or freezes, we will essentially have a vacuum in these flasks. They could implode and send glass shards flying throughout the room."

Elsa, Anna, and Sarah gasped.

"Not to worry," said Alex. "Kristoff put the flasks in a weighted net and dropped them 60 feet deep into a lake. They survived, so they'll support a vacuum."

"The next risk needs to be evaluated by Queen Elsa. This is not the way she normally creates cold. Your Majesty, is this likely to lead to difficulties?"

Elsa answered, "I don't believe so, no."

"Very well, then. Anybody have any other questions? No? Then we can begin whenever you're ready, Your Majesty."

"Wait! Wait! I haven't recorded the starting temperatures!"

Alex looked embarrassed. "Thank you, Ruth. We'll wait until you're ready."

"Ok, go!" said Ruth.

Elsa waved at the flasks and the temperatures registered on both thermometers plummeted. Both flasks frosted over as water froze out of the air onto their outside surfaces.

"Please stop and thaw the flasks, Your Majesty," said Alex. He looked disgruntled. "All right, that was inconclusive."

Elsa waved her hand again and the frost on the flasks disappeared.

"But why?" asked Anna. "It looked like the temperatures both dropped at the same rate."

"Because we don't know if the magic changed the temperature inside the flasks, or outside them. The frost on the outside could have been what did the cooling. Let me think for a moment."

There was a short pause.

"Ruth, do you still have the air dryer hooked up? Can it dry enough air that we can keep moist air away from the flasks?"

"We're going to need someone who can really pump the treadle. My little compressor usually doesn't put out that much air."

Alex addressed the guard. "Sir, will you do us the service of pumping the compressor?"

The guard looked to Elsa, who nodded and said, "Go ahead, Eric." He took a seat at the treadle.

"We need to warm up the dry air a bit before we can use it. Let me hook in a piece of copper tubing.. Ok, now the gutta-percha tubing.. all right. If you could start pumping, Eric? Thank you."

Eric started pumping the treadle, and a stream of dry air rushed from the end of the tube.

"Kristoff, could you play the dry air jet over the flasks? If you see any patches of frost forming, play the dry air over them and we'll hope they sublimate."

Kristoff took the cold trap hose and played it over the two flasks. The temperatures in the flasks dropped. A little water condensed on the interior walls of the flask on the left.

"So much for not knowing which flask had room air," grumbled Alex.

When the temperatures of the flasks had stabilized, Ruth recorded them, and Elsa once again waved her hand.

The temperatures in both flasks started slowly dropping and tracked each other. As the metronome clicked, Ruth recorded the temperatures. Eventually the water in the left hand flask froze.

"Very good. Thank you, Your Majesty, Kristoff, Eric. Did you get all that Ruth?"

Ruth nodded and the guard stopped pumping. He was breathing hard.

Alex stopped the metronome. "So, water and cold are not inextricably linked. Excellent."

There was a brief pause while the dry air source was drained and disassembled. During this time, the two flasks warmed enough that the ice in the left hand flask melted.

Each of the flasks was placed on a scale and weighed.

"Now to answer the water question," said Alex. He turned to Elsa. "Your Majesty, can you fill these flasks about an eighth full with ice without breaking them, or the thermometers?"

"Yes, I can. But why only an eighth?"

"If the ice displaces the air rather than replacing it I don't want stoppers being shot around the lab. Ruth, please record the current weights and temperatures."

"Got 'em."

"Your Majesty, please add ice to the flasks."

Elsa waved, and the bottom eighth of both flasks were immediately filled with solid ice. Ruth noted this, as well as the temperatures. Alex weighed the flasks and called out the weights to Ruth.

"All right, ice can be conjured out of dry air. Conservation of energy has been gone right from the start, and now so is conservation of mass. Magic making fools of natural philosophers again. Your Majesty, would you eliminate the ice in the left hand flask and melt the ice in the right hand flask?"

Elsa waved a hand at the left hand flask, and the ice disappeared. Nothing remained in the flask. She waved at the right hand flask and the ice instantly melted. Alex weighed the flasks and called out the weights to Ruth, who recorded them and the temperatures.

"The weight of the left hand flask is lower than it was before the ice was added. That's significant. Once water is frozen by the magic it can be eliminated. I guess it's not _that_ surprising, considering the elimination of the snow during the Great Thaw. Onward. The weight of the right hand flask is the same as it was after the ice was added. Your Majesty, would you eliminate the water in the right hand flask?"

Elsa waved her hand and eliminated the water. Alex weighed the flask, and Ruth recorded the weight and temperature.

"The flask weighs what it did before we started. Your Majesty, would you drop the temperature to freezing in the right hand flask? Without adding ice this time, please."

Elsa waved a hand and the temperature in the flask dropped. Water condensed on the outside of the flask, and started freezing.

"Thank you Your Majesty." Alex brushed off the frost on the flask and peered inside. "There doesn't appear to be any condensation inside. That, as well as the last recorded weight indicate that the air inside the flask is dry."

Alex rubbed his hands together. "All right, one last experiment, and my philosophical questions will have been answered. Kristoff, could you please bring out an ice cube?"

Kristoff opened an oilcloth bag immersed in a brine/ice bath. He pulled out a small cube of ice.

"Your Majesty, could you produce twenty cubes of ice the same size as this one? In this tub if you please." Alex indicated a small metal tub on one of the work benches.

Elsa once again waved a hand and twenty cubes of ice appeared in the tub.

"Ruth, Kristoff, Your Highness, could you go into the hall, taking the tub with magical ice and the bucket with ordinary ice and replace a random selection of magical ice cubes with ordinary ones? Please record the locations of the ordinary ice cubes. When you've finished, bring the tub back into the room." Alex turned to Elsa. "When they return I'd like you to try to melt all the ice in the tub."

Kristoff picked up the tub, Anna picked up the bucket, and Ruth took the notebook and quill and went out into the hall. They returned a few moments later.

Elsa snapped her fingers and fifteen ice cubes melted.

Anna indicated the remaining ice cubes and said, "Those five are the ones I replaced."

"Thank you Your Highness. I suspect this is why the Great Thaw wasn't the Great Conflagration That Consumed Arendelle." He addressed Elsa. "Your Majesty, your magic seems to remember what it's created or frozen. When you undo it, it only affects what it remembers. I wonder if it would affect these ordinary cubes if you were to pay particular attention to them. Could you try melting the cube on the left?"

Elsa narrowed her eyes, pointed at the cube on the left and snapped her fingers. Nothing happened.

"Your Majesty, it appears that you cannot thaw natural ice."

"I've never _tried_ to thaw natural ice before."

"So, not much hope for tomatoes in January? Or a year-round growing season?" asked Anna.

Elsa laughed. "No, even though it would be nice to get fresh fruits and vegetables in the middle of winter."

Sarah asked, "What would magically created water do to plants?"

Anna said, "Maybe we'd get magical plants!"

"I have no idea," said Alex. He appeared shaken and sat down heavily on a convenient stool. "Sarah, you've found a huge hole in my research plan. Would you take on that aspect of the work? Apparently, I've got a blind spot for biology and the larger scale water cycle."

"Sure. To start I could grow plants using regular water and melted magical ice and see if there are any differences. Your Majesty, could you just fill the tub with ice? When it melts I'll use it for plant experiments."

Elsa waved a hand and the tub filled with a solid block of ice.

Alex removed his goggles, and everybody else did so as well.

Ruth finished writing up the ice cube experiment and handed the journal to Alex. He looked over the writeup and handed the book to Elsa.

"Thank you for participating in this work, Your Majesty, Your Highness. I hope these experiments have been enlightening. I know I've got a _lot_ to think about, but I believe we've made excellent progress today. We've already finished the first phase of our work, and answered my philosophical questions. Now I need to ponder the implications."

Elsa smiled. "It was very interesting, Alex. But I believe there may be another philosophical question that still needs examination."

"Really? What did I miss _this_ time?"

"Let's discuss it this evening at the Castle. Why don't you all come after dinner, say eight PM, and we'll introduce the question then." Elsa grinned.

"Certainly, Your Majesty."

"Until this evening then, good bye," said Elsa.

Ruth called out, "Wait, Your Highness! I brought this for you." She reached below the workbench, pulled out a small box, and handed it to Anna.

"Oh, right! The unicorn! Thank you, Ruth".

Elsa, Anna, and the guard Eric left.

Alex, Sarah, Ruth and Kristoff started cleaning up the laboratory. The sound of Elsa and Anna giggling could be heard down the hallway.

* * *

**A/N - Please note that Chapter 10 had a major revision (the scene where Ruth meets Olaf was added) on July 20th, so you may want to revisit it.**


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Kristoff and Anna were eating dinner when he asked, "What was all that giggling as you and Elsa were leaving the lab this afternoon?" He stared at her. "Are you planning a prank of some sort?"

"We're going to introduce Alex to Olaf tonight," said Anna with an enormous grin. "We want to see how he reacts. Elsa think's he'll go all 'microscope mind'. I think his brain will shut down altogether and he'll gibber. Either way, it'll be fun to watch."

"Hey, whatever happens, don't judge. Remember how _you_ reacted when we met Olaf. You kicked his head right off his body and I ended up catching it."

"You threw it back at me!"

"True enough."

"Kristoff, could you be there tonight? I promised that we wouldn't let Alex hit the floor in case he faints."

"Who did you make _that_ promise to?"

"Sarah. She met Olaf a couple of days ago, and it was one of her conditions for not telling Alex about it."

"Does Ruth know?"

"Yep. Elsa said she met Olaf on Monday."

"And how did that go?"

"Well, Olaf _did_ end up with a hole in his head, but other than that, fine."

"Do you think this will go any better?"

"Sure!" said Anna, waving away Kristoff's concerns.

"_Really_?" asked Kristoff.

Anna sagged in her seat. "I've got no idea. Um.. I'm beginning to have second thoughts about this plan."

* * *

Alex, Sarah, and Ruth arrived at the Castle a few minutes early that evening. They were taken to the brightly lit ballroom by a guard.

Kristoff was the next to arrive.

Moments later, Elsa and Anna arrived. Anna was having trouble standing still and keeping a straight face.

"Good evening Your Majesty, Your Highness, Ice Master," said Alex.

"Good evening," replied Elsa.

"So, Your Majesty, what is the philosophical question you wish to introduce?"

Elsa raised her voice, "Come on in, Olaf."

A door at the far end of the ballroom opened and Olaf waddled into the room. Kristoff moved to get behind Alex, ready to catch him. Elsa, Anna and Sarah watched Alex's face.

Alex smiled as he watched Olaf move across the floor.

Elsa, Anna, and Sarah's eyes widened in surprise at the lack of reaction.

Olaf walked up to Alex and introduced himself, "Hi! I'm Olaf, and I like warm hugs."

"Hello Olaf. I'm Alex. It's a pleasure to finally meet you."

"_She told_," thought Elsa and Anna, looking at Sarah in disappointment. What they saw puzzled them. Sarah still looked dumbfounded.

"_Finally?!_" thought Sarah, narrowing her eyes as she looked at Alex.

"Hey, you're even faster on the uptake than Sarah," said Olaf. He turned and waved to her. "Hi Sarah!"

Alex's head whipped around as he looked at Sarah. They simultaneously exclaimed, "You _knew!_"

"Jinx," murmured Anna.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Jinx again," murmured Anna.

Alex and Sarah flicked annoyed glances at Anna. The chill in the room was metaphorical and had nothing to do with either Elsa or Olaf's flurry.

Alex said, "Sworn to secrecy by King Philip. Before we left for Arendelle, I asked to read the full reports on the events surrounding Queen Elsa's coronation. Those reports are classified, so I couldn't tell you anything. Actually, the existence of those reports is probably classified, so I shouldn't have even told you this much."

Sarah said, "Sworn to secrecy by Princess Anna."

"Hi Ruth! Did you bring the glassman?"

"Hi Olaf. Got it right here." Ruth handed Olaf a small padded box. He opened it to find a small glass snowman, complete with coal black buttons, orange carrot nose, and brown twiggy looking arms.

"I _love_ it. Thank you."

"You're welcome." Ruth looked up to notice both her parents staring at her. "_What?_ Some of my friends from school said that since I was working in the castle I would probably meet Olaf. He came to my workshop and introduced himself."

"Why didn't you tell us?" asked Alex.

Elsa interrupted, "Sworn to secrecy by the Queen."

Alex looked from Elsa to Anna, hurt and angry. With visible restraint he asked gently, "What were you hoping the outcome of all this secrecy would be?"

Elsa looked down in embarrassment. "We were hoping Olaf would be a surprise. I'm sorry."

Alex sighed and relaxed. "Very well, Your Majesty, Your Highness. For future reference, please remember I _hate_ surprises. Surprises usually mean something important was missed." He continued sadly, "People die from surprises." He smiled, "But I'm glad to finally have the opportunity to talk with Olaf." He turned to Olaf, who was chortling over the glass snowman Ruth had given him. "May I ask you some questions, Olaf?"

"Sure. What do you want to know?"

"How is it you can _talk_?"

"I don't know."

"Do you have lungs?"

"Nope!"

"A voice box?"

"Nuh uh."

"How do you make an m or n sound through a _carrot_?"

"No idea."

"How do you _move_?"

"Haven't a clue."

"How do you _learn_?"

"I don't know."

"Do you consume anything?"

"Cold?"

"How were you 'born' knowing so much?

"Maybe I inherited it from Elsa?"

"Do you have a soul?"

"I don't know. Maybe Marshmallow and I are borrowing part of Elsa's?"

"Wait, who's Marshmallow?"

"He guards Elsa's Ice Palace."

Alex laughed. "The Ice Palace's belligerent, _twenty foot tall_ snowman guard is named _Marshmallow_?"

Anna said, "Olaf named him that. We don't know what he calls himself."

"At some point someone's going to have to ask him." Alex sighed. "Evidently magic makes fools of anatomists, physiologists, regular philosophers and theologians as well as natural philosophers. Hmmmm."

Alex paused, turned to Elsa, and asked in an abstracted voice "Are your snowmen immortal?"

"I.. don't know. I know they can melt, but I've protected Olaf from that. Does it matter?"

"Ask him in a million years."

Elsa gasped. Although Alex had spoken softly, his words were like a slap in the face.

Alex looked at the floor and mused further, "It really is a question of paramount importance. Everything I've read and observed points to your magic having a sort of inertia. Individual actions may end, but some become processes. Like Olaf and his flurry. And processes, once started, don't stop until _you_ stop them. _Think_ about that. After all, it's why Arendelle froze."

The temperature in the room started dropping.

Alex continued, bemused. "Think about what would have happened if the Duke of Weselton's soldiers had killed you on the North Mountain, or if Prince Hans had killed you on the fjord. Arendelle would have stayed frozen forever, and might have taken the rest of the world along with it."

"_I could have exterminated all life on earth,_" Elsa thought, horrified. Frost started spreading from Elsa's feet and snow started falling as she was assailed by guilt.

"Hey! Mr. Microscope! Ease up." Anna's hands were balled into fists.

Alex looked up, came out of Microscope Mind, and fingered his left cheek.

"Your Highness! No repercussions! Remember our agreement," said Sarah.

Alex addressed Elsa, "Forgive me, Your Majesty, I was stuck following a trail of thought. The danger I spoke of is long past. It's part of what we're here to help you learn to avert. I'm sorry that I upset you. Please, accept my apology."

Elsa relaxed, the frost retreated, the snow stopped and the room warmed.

Alex turned to Sarah, shocked, and asked, "You _bargained_ for your silence?"

"Yes. Do you have a _problem_ with that?"

Alex fingered his left cheek again. "Um.. no. Uh.. I'm glad you got a good price?"

* * *

After the Morris family and Kristoff had left, Elsa and Anna retreated to Elsa's bedroom, where they were sitting on the bed.

"Well, that wasn't nearly as fun as I thought it'd be," said Anna.

"No Anna, it wasn't," agreed Elsa sadly. "How does that family push my buttons so easily? They seem to know exactly what to say to make me feel guilty, and then the cold gets away from me. Ruth with memories of the fjord. Alex with his talk of _freezing the world_. At this point, the only member of that family who hasn't bludgeoned me with guilt is Sarah."

"Elsa? I don't think it's going to get better, at least with Alex. He's helping you explore your powers, and you still feel guilty about, well, everything. I know you've tried to let go of the past, but our history makes us who we are, and it's _hard_ to change who we are. So if you keep working with him, you're gonna get hammered again."

Elsa reached out and hugged Anna. "When did you get so wise?"

Anna hugged back and wisecracked, "Six months ago. I took a correspondence course."

Elsa laughed.

"Are you going to keep working with him?"

"I think I have to. What if he's right about my magic having inertia? What if he discovers other things? I _have_ to know about these aspects of my powers."

"So the Morris family stays?"

"The Morris family stays."

"Do you need me for nightmare watch again?"

"Thank you, I'd appreciate it."

* * *

As soon as they were outside the castle gates, Sarah said, "Alex, you have to tell us what's in the full reports."

"I don't know if I can. I was sworn to secrecy."

"You're always saying you hate surprises. You didn't see the pain and guilt on Queen Elsa's face when _you_ surprised _her_ with your speculations after meeting Olaf. If Ruth and I are going to keep from _surprising_ her, we need to know everything you can tell us."

"Yeah Dad, it's 'local history and culture' all over again."

Alex considered. Sarah claiming he'd surprised the Queen was hitting below the belt. And Ruth was just piling on. He sighed. "You're right. Sarah, Ruth, here's what Princess Rapunzel and Prince Consort Eugene wrote in their reports..."

* * *

**A/N - I'm sorry to disappoint everyone who expected this to be a fun chapter. I hope it was at least interesting. But it **_**was**_** foreshadowed in chapter 2 when King Philip said that not everything Rapunzel and Eugene knew made it into her book.**


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

The following Wednesday afternoon Elsa was working in her office when she was interrupted by a knock at the open door. She looked up to see Alex accompanied by a guard.

"Please excuse the interruption, Your Majesty," said Alex. "I'd like to write a report on the results of our first session and I need the lab journal."

"Wait a moment." Elsa waved a hand and a breeze closed the office door. The sound of rummaging could be heard for a few seconds. Then the door opened and Elsa handed the journal to Alex. "I recommend working in the library."

"Thank you. I'll be finished in a few hours and I'll return with the journal and the report." He handed her a stack of papers and said, "I'm sorry to add to your work load Your Majesty, but King Philip is fairly certain you think we're spies, so I wanted to pass our letters home through you. I'd appreciate it if you could just put them into the post when you're finished."

" ..Very well," said Elsa, nonplussed. "_Well, he certainly _seems_ guileless_," she thought.

"Thank you Your Majesty. I'll return this in a few hours."

* * *

"Elsaaaa," whined Anna, "Why did _I_ have to read the Morris family's mail? You're the one who wants to find out if they're spies."

"You've handled all of the correspondence with them, so you know their writing styles. You're the one who'll recognize strange syntax and strained word choices that might indicate code words."

"But it's _sooo_ embarrassing."

Elsa held out her hand. "Let me see."

Anna handed her a letter. "There really wasn't anything to censor in this one."

* * *

Harold Collins, Ph.D.  
Director  
Corona Royal Academy  
Corona

Director Collins,

Since the Academy is paying for my sabbatical, I thought you deserved a status report. Our transit to Arendelle was smooth and uneventful. We arrived in the evening and were guests in the Castle, where we met the Royal family and were treated to a demonstration of Queen Elsa's powers. This sabbatical is going to be fantastically productive. The papers and reports we produce are going to define new sciences and engineering disciplines. And we may get a fingertip's grip on the scope and limitations of magic itself! The rarity of true magic makes this an opportunity that may not be repeated in our lifetimes. I can't thank you enough for _insisting_ on publishing my highly speculative paper.

Sincerely,  
Alexander Morris

* * *

Elsa read the letter and frowned. "This doesn't sound like Alex at all. He doesn't usually brag like this. And it looks like his paper was published over his objections."

"You'll get a little more context from Sarah's letter." Anna handed her the next letter. "There are a couple of things we might want to censor in this one."

* * *

Miriam Taylor  
237 Equinox Blvd.  
Capitol City  
Corona

Dearest Miriam,

We have landed safely in Arendelle. Please let our Cousins, Nieces, Nephews, and Aunt Zelda know. We arrived in the late afternoon and the play of sunset on the cliffs was lovely. I was spared the trial of trying to put together a household in the night by the gracious offer of accommodation at the Castle. We met the Queen and Princess and supped with them. They're wonderful. Literally in the case of Queen Elsa, who gave us a demonstration of her magic after dinner. Alex, being Alex, found it 'fascinating' and I ended up having to drug him to get him to sleep. I can only hope that Arendelle doesn't join Corona in having an Alexander Morris cell in the dungeon. Oddly enough, Ruth was the first to precipitate a diplomatic incident at the formal welcoming reception: she illustrated Alex's occasionally blinkered nature to Queen Elsa with the story of the 'Picture with the Reindeer'. Considering the audience, it was horribly inappropriate. Had Queen Elsa and Princess Anna not forgiven us, you and I would be discussing this face to face. We were able to get through an entire afternoon of work with the Queen before Alex caused the next disaster. Which happened when he was introduced to Queen Elsa's living snowman, Olaf. Truly! A _living snowman_! Evidently she made him during the events surrounding her coronation. He's a very nice fellow, and fairly bright, but the priests must have fits! Fortunately, there were no repercussions from _that_ event.

I've made contact with the medical community of Arendelle so I can extend my study of medicinal plants to those native to these climes. And I've made contact with the local midwives as well. They tell a lot of the same stories of the supernatural that we've got in Corona: changelings, strange rewards from fairies for midwife assistance, and so on. There is one new element I haven't heard of in Corona: trolls. These beings are reputed to be more honorable and straightforward than the usual pixies and elves, and the tales come to the teller more directly than from a 'friend of a friend of a friend'. Perhaps they actually exist!

Please send our love and give the news of our safe arrival to both sides of the family. If I know Alex, he's sending a gloating letter to the Director of the Academy. Who deserves it, seeing as he published Alex's paper to get him in trouble. Anyway, please let Alex's brother know that we've arrived safely in Arendelle.

Your Loving Sister,  
Sarah

* * *

Elsa read Sarah's letter. "What would you censor? Oh, and I see what you mean about the context. We'll have to ask Alex why he didn't want to publish."

"How about all the stuff about Olaf? He was left out of the version of your coronation that the Corona public saw. Won't Sarah get in trouble for spreading what Corona considers classified information?"

Elsa said, "If Corona has a problem with living snowmen, let _their_ postal inspectors deal with it. King Philip had to know that the Morris family would be introduced to Olaf."

"All right. How about the trolls? Should we censor the mention of trolls?"

Elsa said, "No, if we censor the trolls, then we only draw attention to them. Let Sarah think they're a myth. If it becomes necessary to tell the Morris family about the trolls we will, but there's no need to rush. They'll probably go the entire year without running into the trolls."

"OK, so we don't have to censor Sarah's letter. We probably don't have to censor Ruth's letter, because the only thing that might be a problem is Olaf again," said Anna as she handed over Ruth's letter and some accompanying sketches.

* * *

Frederick Smith  
54 Spring St.  
Capitol City  
Corona

Dear Fred,

We're in Arendelle, and I _miss_ you. We've been here two weeks, and I'm still having trouble understanding some people (mostly my classmates and the shopkeepers). There's this _accent_. Mom and Dad say I'll get used to it, and probably end up with a trace of it myself. Urg. I guess we sound pretty weird to the people here too.

Arendelle is beautiful. Queen Elsa and Princess Anna are elegant and gorgeous, each in their own way. And they've got this cute living snowman, but I was warned by my classmates, so I didn't freak out _too_ much when I met him. We're staying in a pokey little cottage, but I guess it's big enough since I spend most of my free time in my workshop. In the _castle_! Where I'm on _first name terms_ with Princess Anna!

I'm amazed the Royal Family is still putting up with us. I put my foot in my mouth our second night here. Mom was the only thing that kept us from being deported. A week and a half later, Dad did his _focus_ thing, and Mom saved the day again.

I miss you more than I can say (because Mom is reading over my shoulder as I write this). Write soon. Get everyone to write soon.

Hugs and Kisses,  
Ruth

P. S. - I've included sketches of some of the dresses Queen Elsa and Anna have worn. Please get them to Monica. She could set the new winter fashion in Corona! And when I get home I'll be months ahead of the trends!

* * *

Elsa read the letter and blushed at the fangirl gushing. "Ok, that _is_ embarrassing." She looked at the sketches and was impressed by the accuracy and economy of Ruth's drawing.

Anna said, "Just one more. Nothing to censor here, but it's a little weird."

* * *

King Philip of Corona  
The Palace  
Capitol City  
Corona

Your Majesty,

We've arrived safely in Arendelle. There _have_ been episodes where it looked as if we would be deported (Ruth told the story of the 'picture with the reindeer', and I lapsed into Microscope Mind upon meeting Olaf the living snowman). Sarah managed to either mollify or avert the ire of the Arendelle royal family each time. Have I told you recently that rarely a day passes that I'm not thankful you introduced us? Anyway, despite those startup transients, we are managing to establish ourselves and getting integrated into the community. Sarah and Ruth are making that easy, as Sarah's one of the friendliest people you could hope to meet and Ruth has the student community to mingle with.

Our work with Queen Elsa began a week ago. Actually, if I'm truly honest about it, my work began on our first night with a demonstration of her powers. It was fascinating and raised enough questions to occupy me for a year. Sarah had to drug me to get me to sleep. Stop rolling your eyes, Your Majesty. At any rate, I suspect this will be a very productive year, both in terms of exploring physical limits and perhaps getting a handle on some of the limits of magic.

Based on your supposition that Queen Elsa will consider us spies, I will be passing my family's letters through the Arendelle royal family for censorship. Give our best to the rest of the royal family and know that I remain

Your Loyal Subject,  
Alexander Morris

* * *

Elsa said, "You're right. This letter is strange. Alex writes as if he's on very familiar terms with King Philip."

"Do you think he is?"

"He could be. He had a royal commission to make a floating lantern twenty three years ago, and the King already knew him well enough to act as a matchmaker. There may be more to Alex and his family then there appears to be."

"Well, at least they seem to like us," said Anna.

"But they knew we would be reading their mail," said Elsa.

"Oh no, no, no, no, no. None of this 'I know that you know that I know that you know' stuff. Look at these letters. Alex and Ruth's are straightforward. In the first one he's twisting the knife, in the second he's reporting to his friend the King, and she's writing to her boyfriend. Maybe Madam Foresight was writing to test the censorship, but I still think she likes us."

Anna paused, thought a moment, then asked, "Say, how far do we take this censorship thing anyway?"

"What do you mean?"

"If they say it's a cold winter, is that a tip-off that Corona should be able to bargain for a lower price for ice? Or get a higher price for grain? Trade espionage could be just as damaging as stories about your magic. And the information could be hidden in plain sight."

"I think we're just going to have to let the regular postal inspectors do their job after we finish with the Morris family mail. But I doubt they'll do much. Information about local conditions leaks out through any number of channels, from newspapers to harbor gossip. A few lines in a letter may add to the mosaic, but at some point clarifying the big picture by piecing together little pieces of information just costs too much in manpower."

* * *

**A/N - Thanks to all who have reviewed, followed, and favorited. Special thanks to persistent reviewers Morgaine2005 and PascalDragon. I would be writing this in any case, but your reviews make it much more fun.  
**


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

The following Wednesday afternoon, Elsa and Anna knocked on the door to the lab. Elsa noted that the sign over the lab's door was missing.

This time only Alex and Sarah were waiting for them. Sarah was watering and measuring the height of several sets of seedlings in trays by the window. Alex rose from his seat as Elsa and Anna entered the room. Sarah noted the absence of a guard.

"Good afternoon," said Elsa. "What happened to the 'Land of the Giants'?"

Sarah said, "Good afternoon, Your Majesty, Your Highness. Ruth told us that in the local mythology, giants almost always symbolize forces of destruction. It's not quite the first impression we're trying to make."

Anna laughed. "True enough. Where _is_ Ruth?"

Alex said, "Working on a history paper."

Elsa handed the lab journal to Alex and asked, "What are we exploring today?"

"Thank you, Your Majesty." Alex took the journal and passed it to Sarah who set it on a workbench which had a waiting quill, bottle of ink and blotter. "Before we arrived in Arendelle, I'd planned to use this second session to explore your control of freezing and thawing rates. Those plans were discarded during the first two seconds of your demonstration on our first night."

"What could you possibly see in two seconds that derailed your plans?" asked Anna.

"Gestures, Your Highness," said Alex. He turned to Elsa. "Your Majesty, every intentional act of magic I've seen you perform has been accompanied by a gesture. Before that demonstration, I'd never given any thought to how you communicated your intentions to the magic. Today we'll try to get a handle on it. So, Your Majesty, what is the purpose of the gestures?"

Sarah readied herself to take notes.

Elsa had never considered this question before, so she thought about it for a few seconds before answering, "Now that it's under control, when I do magic I visualize what I want. The gestures help me focus, gather power and act as a trigger. _Before_ it was under control.." The room started cooling as Elsa's anxiety level rose.

Sarah stopped her writing and interrupted, "Your Majesty, if this is making you uncomfortable, we shouldn't dwell on that time."

"Thank you." Elsa relaxed, and the room warmed again.

Alex asked, "What determines the gesture?"

"Whatever seems right at the time. If I'm directing a blast of wind or snow, pointing or sweeping an arm seems natural. If I'm going to be spreading a layer of ice underfoot, stamping my foot seems natural."

"Would it work with words? Or gestures that are non-intuitive? If you had a clearly visualized purpose for the magic and just needed a trigger?"

"I'm not sure I understand."

Alex reached under the workbench and pulled out two small pieces of wood connected by a hinge. "Suppose you wanted to break apart a hinge. You could use repeated freeze-thaw cycles to force the screws out of the wood or spread the knuckles wrapped around the pin. A natural gesture might be the wave of a hand or the clenching and opening of a fist. A much faster one would be the closing and opening an eye. And it has the advantage that if your hands are occupied, you don't have to drop anything."

"_Well, _this_ would have helped when Hans had my hands shackled_," thought Elsa. "Would you like me to try to break this hinge now?"

"I'd like to take some precautions first. Sarah, could you open the emergency supplies?"

Sarah got up and unlocked the green chest.

Alex continued, "I think eye and ear protection are important this time, as well as a box of ice surrounding the hinge, just in case pieces go flying." He handed out goggles and ear plugs.

Anna asked, "Why ear plugs?"

"When metal is bent, torn or broken it makes noise. I have no idea if that will happen, or how loud it may be. It's better to err on the side of safety."

Elsa waved a hand and the hinge and the area surrounding it on the workbench was covered by a box of clear ice two inches thick and a foot on each side. "What would you like me to try first, freeing the hinge pin or forcing out the screws?"

"Try freeing the hinge pin first, Your Majesty. If you can get a layer of water between the pin and the hinge knuckles you can freeze it and the expansion will probably force the knuckles open and free the pin. Especially if you do it repeatedly and confine the ice to the space between knuckle and pin. Start with whatever gesture feels natural, then try winking one eye."

Alex donned his goggles and put in his earplugs. Elsa, Anna, and Sarah followed suit.

Elsa waved her right hand and the hinge barrel frosted over. The hinge knuckles opened slightly and made a creaking noise. She waved again and the frost melted. She closed her right eye and the hinge barrel frosted over again. Again, the hinge knuckles creaked. She opened her eye and the frost melted. Elsa winked her eye rapidly, ten times in succession, and the hinge knuckles yielded with a groaning, and then a loud cracking sound, fracturing the knuckles, opening the hinge barrel and exposing the hinge pin.

Alex removed his earplugs, and so did everyone else.

Anna examined the hinge. "Whoa! No door is _ever_ gonna stand in _your_ way."

"_Cell doors have hinges on the _outside, _much harder to visualize_," thought Elsa.

"How complicated can your communication with the magic get, Your Majesty?" asked Alex.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, could you have the magic do a sequence of ten freeze-thaw cycles at high speed with a single gesture?"

"I can try. It's possible I can _compress_ my control of my magic."

"That's an awkward way to describe it, but so be it. Why don't you try to force one of the hinge screws out of the wood using closing and opening an eye as a trigger and then for the next screw compress the trigger. You can determine the number of freeze-thaw cycles it takes with the first screw and have your magic do that many cycles in quick succession for the second screw."

"Very well."

Everyone re-inserted their ear plugs.

Elsa closed her right eye and one of the screws holding a hinge wing to the wood frosted over and was forced a short distance out of the wood. She opened her eye and the screw defrosted. She winked and the screw was forced further from the wood. She winked eight more times before the screw was forced from the wood entirely.

For the second screw Elsa snapped her fingers. One of the other screws rocketed from the wood with a ripping sound and embedded itself in the surrounding ice box with a 'ping'.

Sarah scribbled madly to describe what had happened.

Alex removed his earplugs and goggles, and Elsa, Anna and Sarah followed his example.

"Very interesting. Could you please remove the ice shield Your Majesty?"

Elsa snapped her fingers and the ice box disappeared. The screw dropped to the workbench, rolled off, and clattered to the floor. Alex bent down and retrieved it, putting it back on the workbench and then examining the hinge carefully.

Alex asked, "Sarah, could you draw the hinge?"

Sarah nodded and drew a picture of the twisted and broken hinge knuckles and the scarred wood that remained where the two screws had been ejected.

Anna asked, "What's next?"

Alex grinned sheepishly and said, "Next, Your Highness, is something a little bizarre." He turned to Elsa, "Your Majesty, do you think it's possible your magic could respond to an _external_ trigger? A sound for instance, or perhaps a flash of light?"

"Why would I abdicate control of my power to an external trigger?"

Alex looked uncomfortably at Elsa. "It might save your life. Please stop me if I'm treading on painful memories, but when the soldiers returned from the battle at the Ice Palace they told stories of what they'd seen there. One thing they saw was a sheet of ice with the tip of a crossbow bolt emerging from it." Elsa gasped, remembering the attack, but indicated to Alex that he should continue.

Alex said, "Gestures can be quick, but a shield of ice triggered by the sound of a crossbow bolt firing would have been faster." Alex reached into a pocket and pulled out a small metal clicker. "I don't have a crossbow, and wouldn't bring one into your presence if I did, but I do have this." Alex flexed the noisemaker and it made a loud '_click_'. He opened a cabinet and pulled out a small mortar and pestle, removed the pestle and put it back in the cabinet. He placed the mortar on a workbench. "Your Majesty, can your magic fill up this mortar with ice when it hears the click?"

"I.. I'm not sure," said Elsa. She glanced at Anna. "It cost _so_ much to bring my powers under control, that I'm not sure I can let go of that control. Even if I try, I may not be able to." She paused, trying to think of a way to express how _weird_ she felt about this. "You're asking me to think about my magic in a way I never have before. As if it were something almost separate from me that I control rather than an intrinsic part of who I am. That.. mental model may be so wrong that I don't know if this can ever work."

Anna said, "I think you should try. It could save your life."

Elsa appeared ready to protest again, but changed her mind. "Very well, let's try."

"All right, Your Majesty, I'm going to get behind you so you don't see me making the click." Alex moved behind Elsa. "Nod to let me know when you're ready to begin."

Elsa gathered her thoughts, then nodded and waited anxiously. Three seconds later she heard a '_click_'. The mortar remained empty.

"Oh well, not every idea pans out."

"I'm sorry, Alex."

Sarah said, "Your Majesty, you seemed very tense while you were waiting for the click. As if you were waiting to pounce. It may be that you need to relax for an external trigger to work. Why don't you and Princess Anna take the clicker and try on your own, when you won't have the pressure of Alex and me looking over your shoulder. The benefits if you succeed are surely worth the effort of trying again."

Anna said, "That's a good idea. We'll think of it as homework."

Alex said, "Please don't, Your Highness." He sighed. "I've seen how diligent my students are about homework."

Elsa chuckled. "I think this is important enough for us to actually do the work."

Alex handed the clicker to Anna and said, "Your Highness, Your Majesty, I wish you better luck at this than we had."

Elsa said, "Thank you, Alex. Will you be writing a report on this week's work next Wednesday?"

"Yes, although I hope to add positive results from Your Majesty's experiments."

Sarah finished writing up what hadn't happened, as well as her speculations as to why. Then she took the notebook and copied the dated measurements from the trays of seedlings. She blotted the writing, and as she was handing the journal to Elsa she asked, "Your Majesty, could you refill the water tub with ice? I'm running low on magically created water."

Elsa took the journal in one hand and waved the other, filling the tub with ice. Then she and Anna took their leave.

Alex and Sarah cleaned up and locked up the lab and then went home.

* * *

Anna grinned and glanced sidelong at Elsa as they walked to her office. "So, are you going to be blowing doors off their hinges instead of knocking?"

Elsa laughed. "Only if I am very, _very_ angry."

"Whooee, remind me not to make you mad."

**A/N - Of course the real reason for the gestures is that movies are a visual medium. But I like my reasons also. The paragraphs on the compression of the trigger were rewritten in response to PascalDragon's review.**


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

As often happens for a task with a distant deadline, the homework was neglected until the night before it was due. The evening was chilly, so Anna brought two mugs of hot cocoa to Elsa's office at the end of her work day.

"Now that your real work is done, we need to start our homework." said Anna.

"Are you _seriously_ expecting me to ignore a mug of hot cocoa to do homework?"

"No, but I thought we'd talk first, and cocoa is good for talking." Anna brought over a chair, sat down and took a sip of cocoa.

"Oh, that's all right then. What do you want to talk about?"

"Trust," said Anna. "And why _I_ think the trigger thing didn't work."

Elsa asked, "You don't think it was tension?"

Anna shook her head. "No. I think you don't trust Alex. You're still not sure why Corona sent him. So there's no way you're going to hand over even a smidgeon of control to him."

"Then what's the point of trying this? If I'm not going to let Alex have any control, I'm certainly not going to relinquish control to an assassin."

"What are you afraid of?"

Elsa shuddered. "If I'm materializing sheets of ice as a reflex, someone could get caught, crushed, or sliced in half."

"Elsa, your magic doesn't have to be _stupid_. You _control_ it. You can make it be smart. You can make sure it protects the people around you."

Exasperated, Elsa said, "You're using the same mental model Alex does! That the magic watches and waits for me to tell it what to do. That model is _wrong_. The magic is _part_ of me."

Anna waved away the objection. "Well then, _you_ don't have to be stupid, and _you_ can protect the people around you, not just throw up big flat sheets of ice."

"That's just one set of things that can go wrong. I can't begin to imagine all the ways reflexive magic could cause a disaster." Elsa took a gulp of the cocoa.

Anna grinned, then said, "You could ask Lady Prepared-For-The-Worst and Lord Safety-First-And-No-Fun." At Elsa's quizzical look, Anna elaborated, "Madam Foresight and Mr. Microscope."

Elsa put her hand in front of her mouth and giggled. "Ok, if we can get this to happen at all, we'll talk to Sarah and Alex."

Anna drank some cocoa and her mood became somber as she looked at Elsa over the rim of the mug and asked, "Do you trust me?"

Elsa became equally serious. "Anna, I'd trust you with my life."

"How about with the fate of Arendelle? Or the fate of the world? Those are what you're really worried about, right? If the magic rebels or something and goes completely out of control?"

Elsa considered for a moment. "When you put it like that, it seems a bit melodramatic. But yes, I'd trust you with the fate of Arendelle and the world."

Anna beamed. She finished her cocoa and put the mug on Elsa's desk. "Close your eyes, get ready, and when the magic hears the click, fill my mug with ice."

Elsa frowned. "Now? At least let me finish my cocoa first." She finished her drink, leaned back in her chair, and closed her eyes.

Anna dug the clicker out of a pocket, waited a few seconds, then '_click_'ed.

Anna's mug instantly filled with ice.

Anna squealed, "You _do_ trust me." She leaped out of her seat and gave Elsa a huge hug.

Elsa opened her eyes, saw the ice, and hugged back, a gentle smile on her lips.

* * *

Anna was pulling Elsa by the arm as they entered the ballroom. "Come on, come on, come on, come _on_."

"Why did you drag me _here_?"

"I want to try the ice shield thing and there's not enough room in your office." Anna pulled Elsa to the center of the room. "Close your eyes. I'm going to stay well away from you so don't worry about me getting crushed by a wall of ice. Let's start without the outside trigger. When you hear the click, put up an ice wall between us." Anna took off her shoes and snuck away to one of the corners of the room. She once again pulled out the clicker, waited, then '_click_'ed.

Elsa twitched and erected a wall of ice three feet from herself and between them within half a second.

Anna scoffed, "Pfff. _Way_ too slow. I could've hit you with a snowball before you had that wall up. Try it with the magic listening for the sound." She snuck to another corner of the room and '_click_'ed.

The wall went up without a perceptible delay.

"Much better. Now we just have to teach your magic what it needs to do."

"Which will happen _later_," said Elsa firmly. She opened her eyes and eliminated the two ice walls she had brought into existence. "This is the point where we need to talk to Sarah and Alex."

"Don't you want to be able to show off a little?"

"No, I want to get this right. Fate of the world, remember?"

"Oh, all right," sulked Anna.

"Let's call it a night."

* * *

Anna was uncharacteristically silent as they headed toward their quarters. Elsa had expected excited babbling at the very least.

Elsa looked over at Anna. "You're awfully quiet, Anna. What are you thinking about?"

Anna, looking down at the floor ahead of her as she walked, said slowly, "I wonder if Alex and Sarah thought about what you'd be capable of if everything had worked last week."

"You mean the fact that doors, gates, and not even walls can stop me now? And that I'll be much harder to assassinate once the ice shields go up automagically?"

Anna looked at Elsa. "Exactly. Either they didn't think it through, or they trust you not to go on a carousing crusade of conquest."

Elsa looked at Anna, shocked. "Anna! Do you _truly_ think I would go on a 'carousing crusade of conquest'?"

Anna laughed and waved away the question. "Of course not, but I've had a year to _really_ get to know you. They've only known you a bit more than a month."

Elsa looked thoughtful. "Hmmm. I can see Alex being blind to the possibilities, but Sarah wasn't objecting to the direction of the work either, and she _is_ Lady Prepared-For-The-Worst. She must have _some_ reason to trust me. I wonder what it is?" Elsa smiled. "Perhaps we should get to know the Morris family a bit better. I'll invite Sarah to play a game of chess tomorrow."

* * *

**A/N - Thanks to all who are following and favoriting. Special thanks to Morgaine2005 and PascalDragon for your reviews. They keep me from slacking off and give me ideas to plant into the future of the story.**


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

The next afternoon Alex and Sarah were led to a small conference room by a guard. The room had a wide set of windows that let in the diffuse gray light from the overcast day outside. Elsa and Anna were sitting next to each other, talking and waiting for them at a table which had a chess set and the lab journal. As Alex and Sarah entered, Elsa and Anna looked up and smiled.

"Good afternoon," said Elsa.

"Good afternoon, Your Majesty, Your Highness," said Alex. "Were your experiments successful?"

"Yes, they were, and we'd like to talk to both of you before Alex goes to write up last week's work and Sarah and I play chess," said Elsa, and beckoned them to sit at the table.

"What was keeping it from working at the lab? Tension?" asked Sarah as she seated herself opposite Elsa. Alex sat down next to her.

"Um.. something like that," said Anna, not wanting to hurt Sarah and Alex's feelings. "Anyway, we got the magic to put up an ice shield when I clicked the clicker, but now Elsa needs to figure out how to make it safe for everyone around her. You guys are good at that kind of thinking, so we want your help."

Elsa interrupted. "Anna, you're still thinking about the magic as if it were something separate from me. That's not how it _feels_."

"But that's how it _acted_," said Anna. "When _you_ were listening for the click there was a big delay, but when the _magic_ was listening there wasn't. So it may be you doing the magic, but there's something else going on too."

Elsa opened her mouth to say something, but couldn't think of a rebuttal and closed her mouth again.

"Interesting. I'll have to think about that." said Alex. "But back to external triggers. I've been pondering, and I suspect that triggering on events that Queen Elsa must interpret is inappropriate. Especially if the magic can be trained."

"What do you mean?" asked Elsa. "What would you consider an _appropriate_ trigger?"

"Something that doesn't depend on Your Majesty knowing the sound of every weapon that might be used on you, or require an assassin to be in your line of sight, or even require you to be awake. Consider just a few of the physical properties of an object: mass, momentum, kinetic energy, hardness, maximum curvature. If the magic can determine that an object is a threat from its physical properties, it should be able to erect a shield to block it."

"Curvature?" asked Anna.

"That's one of the important ones, Your Highness. Sharp objects have very high curvatures across their edges. At any rate, any threat can be described by a point that lies somewhere in the multi-dimensional space of object properties. Your job, Your Majesty, is to identify the threat part of that space to the magic."

Sarah said, "Make sure the magic knows the difference between animate and inanimate objects. It's important that a child leaping into your arms or a sister or a living snowman giving you a hug not bounce off your shield."

Alex said, "And it should go without saying that the shield must never intersect an animate object. Otherwise things could get horrifically messy."

"So, any suggestions for how to train the magic?" asked Anna, looking a little queasy.

"I'm sorry Your Highness, but having no idea of the ultimate sensory capabilities and intelligence of Queen Elsa's magic, all I can suggest is to teach the magic the same way you would teach Olaf. Hmmm. _Think_ about Olaf. Olaf started as an attempt to do one thing, build a snowman, an individual action that should have ended. And as such he should have been merely a physical object. But somehow when you created him, he became a process, something that could think and act on its own. Perhaps magics that respond to external triggers become processes as well. Actually, I suspect they would have to, otherwise they'd require your constant attention."

Alex became more animated as the implications of this train of thought became evident. "Olaf is intelligent and can move, see, hear, and smell. Through a _carrot_. Somehow. Other processes, such as a shield, should be able to have senses and behaviors as well. Oh! Of course they would! Just look at Olaf's flurry. It has to have _some_ sort of senses and motive capability because it follows him around. Yes, absolutely, you ought to be able to define the shield process, or teach it, to act in a way that protects those around you. Would you like us to observe and comment during the training?"

"No, that's quite all right," said Elsa. "Anna and I will give some thought to what constitutes a threat and continue working on the shields." She handed Alex the lab notebook, smiled and said, "I look forward to reading this week's report."

"Thank you, Your Majesty," said Alex as he took the notebook. In exchange, he handed Elsa a packet of letters. "Here is our latest outgoing correspondence."

Elsa immediately handed the letters to Anna, who stuck out her tongue at her. Anna said to Alex, "We've both got work to do. Let's head to the library."

Alex addressed Elsa, "Your Majesty, I will return the notebook and a report in a couple of hours." Then he and Anna left for the library.

Elsa and Sarah began their game.

* * *

Two hours later Sarah could see the end coming and conceded. She stretched in her chair and worked out some kinked muscles.

Elsa smiled and said, "Sarah, you've got a devious mind."

"Evidently not devious enough, Your Majesty"

"Enough to give me the best game I've played in years. We need to make this a habit. My work load will be easing as the weather gets colder and communication with the rest of the world gets more difficult, so there will be time for games."

"Best not to tell Alex about your increased free time, otherwise he'll try to fill it."

"Does he ever relax and take it easy?"

"Of course, but before long some shiny new idea catches his interest, and then he might as well be back at work. And if it's 'fascinating' there's always the chance he'll end up in the dungeon again."

"Oh."

They sat in silence for a few moments.

"Your Majesty, may I ask a personal question?"

"You may ask. I may not answer."

Sarah looked down at the chess board. "Was it really tension that kept the trigger from working last week, or was it something else? The words you chose, 'abdicate control of my power', were awfully strong coming from royalty. Princess Anna _did_ demur when I asked if tension was the problem. And, of course, you turned down Alex when he offered our help to train the magic to be a shield. Perhaps it's a matter of trust?" Sarah looked up at Elsa, who's embarrassed expression answered all of her questions. "I certainly understand not trusting us with the details of something as important as your personal shield." She flashed a smile. "After all, I've got a devious mind."

* * *

That evening Anna brought the Morris family's letters to Elsa's office.

Elsa said, "Anything that you and I need to censor?"

"Nope. But I'm not sure Alex is truly comfortable with the whole idea of magic." Anna handed Alex's letter to Elsa.

* * *

Alan Morris  
26 River Blvd  
Springtown  
Corona

Dear Alan,

I'm sorry for not writing you sooner, but we're minimizing our mail to limit the work of the postal censors.

I suspect you already know we've arrived safely in Arendelle. We've been made very welcome, in spite of a few gaffes on my part. The work is proceeding slowly (Queen Elsa's time is very limited), but it's always fascinating, occasionally amazing and the leisurely pace is allowing me time to actually _think_ about what we're doing (and then I have to go lay down and breathe into a paper bag). We'll eventually get to fundamental questions of material science that I can publish.

When I'm not working with the Queen (i.e. most of the time), I'm usually teaching. I've got the usual student distribution in my classes: a few who need extra help, a few who grasp the material well enough to tutor them, and the majority (who understand the material, but don't have the sure grasp on it that the best have). Recitation sessions and office hours are occasionally agonizing however, mostly because when so many students are missing the point it's clearly _my_ fault. But really, the course work is straightforward and I don't see how they can be going so _wrong_. Maybe they're having trouble with my accent. I occasionally have trouble with theirs.

How are Ida and the boys? Did Robert get into the Academy? And is Oliver's greatest ambition still only to be a palace guard? Sarah and Ruth seem to have settled in here and have made some friends.

Are lanterns still trickling in? The numbers looked low before we left. You may have to increase the bounty or raise the price. Let me know what you do.

All the best,  
Alex

* * *

Elsa said, "You may be right. He may be uncomfortable with my magic. Or he may be uncomfortable with what I've been learning with him. Or he may just be joking."

"Well, it isn't stopping him from being useful. So I guess we can let it slide. But let's keep an eye out for problems in the future." Anna handed Sarah's letter to Elsa. "Sarah's letter doesn't mention magic, and she seems to be losing interest in the trolls. But she's describing the weather and the harvest."

* * *

Miriam Taylor  
237 Equinox Blvd.  
Capitol City  
Corona

Dearest Miriam,

The weather in Arendelle is starting to get cold, a decided change of pace from Corona, where early October brings the last of the heat waves. We're getting more frequent rain, and it's making the end of the harvest a bit more difficult. I hope it's clear for the harvest festival next week.

With the harvest going on, we're in the midst of laying in the basic larder. Having arrived too late to grow a kitchen garden and having no livestock we're having to buy everything we need to make it through the winter. Part of the problem is that I'm not familiar with the timing of the local produce. In Corona I knew when to buy pears or parsnips to get the most for our money. Everything is timed differently in Arendelle. Our neighbors have been very helpful, providing lots of hints on how to preserve the local foods. But Miriam, I despair of our survival until spring (just kidding).

We've actually been able to go three whole weeks without precipitating any sabbatical ending incidents. Queen Elsa even invited me to play chess with her this afternoon. Alex predicts that she'll be a formidable player (based on some fairly tortured logic about _ice harvesting_ of all things). We'll see. I hope we're evenly matched. Alex is no challenge at all. When he's focused he can see a lot of moves ahead, but he's as distractible as a kitten if you know what kind of conversational yarn to dangle in front of him. I won't have that kind of advantage with the Queen and she may sweep me from the board.

I'm a little disappointed in the local herbalists. A lot of what they know is based on anecdotal evidence at best and wishful thinking at worst. Arendelle's medicinal plants won't occupy more than an appendix in my compendium unless I spend a decade here, and we're heading home next summer.

Stories of the trolls remain tantalizingly vague. The closest I've gotten to a first hand account is 'a friend of my father's once saw a troll'. Perhaps I should give up on this particular will-o'-the-wisp.

I hope everyone in Corona remains well. I miss you (and the Cousins, and the Nieces and the Nephews, and even Aunt Zelda), but you the most. I wish there were a way to _talk_ to you without the long delays of the post. Stay well, and write soon to

Your Loving Sister,  
Sarah

* * *

"We don't have to do anything about Sarah's letter."

"Ok." Anna handed Ruth's letter to Elsa. "Ruth's letter is straightforward, but she needs something to keep her occupied."

* * *

Frederick Smith  
54 Spring St.  
Capitol City  
Corona

Dear Fred,

I wish you were here. I'm starting to get bored. Yes, Arendelle is beautiful. Yes, my classes are sort of interesting. Yes, I've got all the small form glass I can work with and plenty of time. But that's the problem. I've got plenty of time, but no challenges. Dad hasn't needed me to make anything weird in almost three weeks. If you were here we could go exploring. I'm afraid to go exploring on my own because there are wolves and bears in the mountains and forests.

There was one bright spot in the past two weeks: Princess Anna introduced me to Sven (the reindeer in Princess Rapunzel's book). He's pretty smart, maybe even as smart as Maximus, but much more laid back and relaxed. And where Maximus's weakness is apples, Sven's is carrots.

I'm slowly getting used to the way they talk here. To my friends, I'm the one with the weird accent. And the odd clothes. And the strange hair. Princess Rapunzel's hair style never made it to Arendelle. I guess the _local_ princess sets the style. I may end up coming back with twin braids. But my hair, clothes and the way I talk are 'exotic', so lots of people are introducing themselves and I'm making lots of new friends.

I still miss you more than I can say (because Mom is _still_ reading over my shoulder). We should be getting letters from home in a day or two and I'm looking forward to yours. Keep writing, and make sure everyone else writes too.

Hugs and Kisses,  
Ruth

* * *

"So _that's_ why her hair is so short," said Elsa. "I thought it was to keep it out of her torches. She seems to enjoy your company. Why don't you spend some time with her and see if you can get her engaged in something useful. An idle adolescent is a dangerous thing."

"How would you know?" asked Anna, a little bitterly.

Elsa felt a pang of guilt. "Anna, we may have been separated during those years, but I still heard about things like the 'room.. with a mousse'."

"Um.. how _much_ did you hear?"

"At the time, mostly the screams of outrage. And five years later the kitchen staff are still telling the story."

* * *

**A/N - Thanks to continuing reviewers Morgaine2005 and PascalDragon. Welcome to new reviewer Alan Sanders and returning reviewer ptahaegyptus2. Thanks to all who have reviewed, followed and favorited.**


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

The next Tuesday a ship from Corona docked in Arendelle harbor. In addition to freight, it carried two letters for the Morris family. These were brought to Princess Anna for examination.

* * *

Alex Morris  
c/o Arendelle Castle  
Arendelle

Hello Alex,

I'm a little hurt that I found out that you were safe and sound in Arendelle from Sarah's sister. Do I need to send you an advance on your royalties so you can afford postage? Or are you saving your money for return passage for when you get deported? Seems like you and the royal family got off to a rocky start.

While you're off gallivanting after trolls and hobnobbing with royalty, Ida and I are keeping the shop running. We got a lot of lanterns returned for the bounty over the last month. It's started getting dark earlier and people have discovered that running the lanterns costs more in fuel than buying candles would have. And that they're light enough to be blown over in a breeze, and then they go out. They really are only good for being floating lanterns. The high return numbers mean we'll be able to sell a lot of refurbished lanterns. Sorry kid, no royalties for you from those. Just your share of the profits.

We've gotten the kinks out of the your latest lifting envelope scheme. The envelope weight is down by thirty percent. Which translates directly to larger fuel tanks, additional fuel, longer flights, a higher price point and a better profit. I'll send your royalties from the new lanterns after Princess Rapunzel's birthday.

I have to admit I envy you the new scientific vistas you get to explore. When you find yourself with the opportunity, name something after me.

Your Big Brother,  
Alan

* * *

Sarah Morris  
c/o Arendelle Castle  
Arendelle

Dearest Sarah,

I've spread the news of your safe arrival (and near return) to both sides of the family. Arendelle sounds very pretty and its royal family seems generous, hospitable and forgiving. Unfortunately, the Morris family seems to have made its usual splash. I hope the early missteps haven't continued. Ruth needs to learn to think more than one sentence ahead in a conversation. And Alex! Well, sometimes Alex just needs a muzzle.

The living snowman is interesting, for all sorts of reasons. If he was 'born' during the Great Freeze he should have been in Princess Rapunzel's book. I wonder why he was left out. Let me know what you think.

I'm glad you'll be able to continue your plant work. Let me know if you run into any trolls while you're tromping the hills looking for specimens.

Everyone here is well. Steve and Ruby are excelling in school. The family got together to celebrate Aunt Zelda's 70th birthday this past weekend. What with cousins, spouses, children and grandchildren there must have been 40 people there. A happy crowded day.

Some potentially unpleasant news: Steve has seen Ruth's boyfriend, Fred, hanging about with other girls. At this point it could be innocent, so I'm having the kids keep their eyes and ears open, and of course I'll report what they learn. But you _are_ going to be gone for a year, and you might want to start gently preparing Ruth for heartbreak to come.

Keep the letters coming! It's wonderful to live a life of foreign travel and adventure vicariously through you. You get the excitements and dangers of travel, and I get the comforts of home.

I miss you, Sarah. Stay safe, and keep Ruth and Alex out of trouble.

With all the love in the world,  
Miriam

* * *

After Elsa had read the letters, she said, "If anything, these letters are even more embarrassing to read than the outbound ones. They think what they're saying is private."

Anna said, "Even worse, now we know _way_ too much about Ruth's romantic situation. When she figures out that she's been dumped, she'll know we know. _That's_ gonna be awkward. Is there any way we can reseal these so it doesn't look like we read them?"

"Do you honestly think that Sarah, or even Alex, would believe we _haven't_ read their mail?" asked Elsa.

"No, I guess not. So what do we do?"

"Pass these letters along as quickly as possible and hope the Morris family can deal with their own problems."

* * *

"Mom, he didn't write! Do you think something happened to him?" asked Ruth worriedly.

"How would I know, dear? Why don't you write your next letter to cousin Ruby? Ask her if anything's happened to Fred."

"It's going to take five weeks to get a reply from her! _Anything_ could happen in that time."

"I don't believe the ship for Corona has sailed. If you write a quick letter, I'll try to hurry it to Princess Anna so it can go with the letters we've already written. That way it'll take less than a month to get a response."

"Thanks Mom."

"Ruth, if you ever need someone to talk to..."

Ruth rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah, you're always there."

"Well, I _am_. If you must talk to someone else, talk to your friends. But don't talk to the Princess or the Queen."

Ruth bristled, "Why not? Anna is a friend."

Sarah sighed, "Ruth, think about it. Princess Anna has had fewer boyfriends than you, and the first one tried to kill her. She won't be able to give you any useful advice, and she can top any story of betrayal you care to tell."

* * *

Ruby Taylor  
237 Equinox Blvd.  
Capitol City  
Corona

Dear Ruby,

We're in Arendelle and I've been sending letters to Fred but he hasn't replied. Has something happened to him? Please, please let me know what's going on.

Love,  
Ruth

P.S. - Sorry to be so brief but I have to get this on the ship headed home and it could leave any time. Tell me how you and Steve are doing too.

* * *

"Princess Anna! Princess Anna!" called Sarah as she ran after Anna through the castle.

Anna turned and smiled as Sarah puffed up to her. "Hi Sarah. Why are you chasing me through the halls?"

"Ruth.. and I.. were wondering.. if you could censor.. this short letter.. before the ship for Corona.. sails. And if I could write a post script to my letter."

"Sure. Let's go see the postmaster. I'll read Ruth's letter on the way."

* * *

P. S. - Miriam, please apologize to Ruby for me for throwing her under the carriage. The turnaround time will let me get Ruth ready for disappointment. Ask Ruby not to sugar coat the truth. If Fred is actually seeing other girls, let Ruth know. If it's still inconclusive, let her know that too. Thanks. Love, Sarah.

* * *

**A/N - Thanks to Reviewers Morgaine2005, Pascal Dragon, ptahaegyptus2, and Geology. Rocks321. It's always fun to read your reviews.  
**


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18

When Elsa and Anna arrived at the lab on Wednesday they found Kristoff, Alex, Sarah, and Ruth waiting for them. Sarah was watering and measuring the seedlings in their trays. Anna noticed a new addition: mice in cages. The water dishes for half the cages were marked with snowflakes. Elsa handed the lab journal to Alex and said, "Good afternoon everyone. What will we be investigating today?"

Alex replied, "Good afternoon Your Majesty, Your Highness. Today we'll be examining some of the physical properties of magical ice. Rigidity and strength in particular." Alex handed the journal to Ruth.

"What am I, a stenographer? All I seem to do around here is write," said Ruth. Under her breath she muttered, "Not even any decent glasswork to do for this week."

Sarah muttered right back, "And all I ever do is wait for an accident, water the plants and change bedding in mouse cages. Stop complaining unless you _like_ dealing with mouse droppings." She went and unlocked the emergency supplies, got goggles, and handed them out to everyone, who donned them.

Anna said, "This isn't what you wanted to look at during the last session before you changed it to gestures."

"Very true Your Highness. This is work inspired by the skating blades Queen Elsa conjured up during that first night's demonstration. I suspect that regular ice couldn't stand up to the stresses of being ice skate blades. So let's begin with rigidity."

Alex took a wooden jawed clamp from one of the cabinets and attached it to the edge of the work bench. He went to another cabinet and pulled out a tuning fork.

"A beam supported solidly at one end will vibrate at a natural frequency that depends on the beam's length, cross section, mass per length, and rigidity. We want to compare the rigidity of Queen Elsa's ice to that of natural ice. So if we make beams of the same cross section out of both kinds of ice and adjust the lengths so that they vibrate at the same frequency, we can use the lengths to compare the rigidities."

Ruth moaned, "Daaaad, my eyes are glazing over."

"Ruth, it's not that hard a concept. Didn't you ever twang a ruler against a desk in school? The shorter the length of ruler overhanging the desk, the higher the pitch. We'll be twanging ice beams and adjusting the lengths until they match the tuning fork."

Alex picked up the tuning fork, struck it against the edge of the workbench and pressed the handle against the table top, which sounded a pleasing 'A'.

"Since we'll need to work fast to keep the ice from melting, I'll need someone to help with the clamp while I'm adjusting the length of the ice beam under test. And someone else to keep the tuning fork going. Your Highness, will you manage the tuning fork? And Sarah, will you deal with opening and closing the clamp?"

Anna and Sarah nodded assent.

Ruth interrupted, "Wait. Why do we have to hurry? The room doesn't have to be warm. Can Queen Elsa cool the room so we don't have to rush?"

"I certainly can, if it will help," said Elsa.

"It would allow us to proceed at a more leisurely pace, but I don't want any magical influences on the natural ice. I don't know if it would affect the results, but I don't want to risk it," said Alex. "Kristoff, could you please bring out one of the beams? And the supports?"

Kristoff put on mittens and pulled a bar of ice from an oilcloth bag immersed in an ice/brine solution. It was a foot long, an inch wide, and a quarter of an inch thick.

Alex put on gloves and took the ice bar. He said to Elsa, "Your Majesty, please create a bar of ice with the same width and thickness, but make it about two feet long. The same type of ice you would create for skating blades."

Elsa put the fingertips of both hands together, with the thumbs about a quarter of an inch from the rest of the fingers. She pulled her hands apart and a bar of ice grew in the gap between her finger tips and held from below by her thumbs. She increased the gap between her hands until she held a bar of ice about two feet long, an inch wide, and a quarter inch thick.

Kristoff pulled two blocks of ice from the oilcloth bag and placed them on the work bench. Alex handed him the natural ice bar and he put it back into the bag.

Elsa handed Alex the bar of her ice.

Alex placed one block of ice on the workbench, placed the magic ice bar on top of it (wide edge parallel to the workbench), placed another block of ice on top of that, then clamped the sandwich to the workbench.

Sarah stood by the clamp while Alex moved to the free hanging end of the beam. Anna struck the tuning fork and held the handle against the table top. Alex struck the end of the beam. The tone coming from the beam was low. Sarah loosened the clamp and Alex shortened the beam. Anna struck the tuning fork again. Alex struck the end of the beam and the tone was high.

After several adjustments the beam was almost the right length. The tones of the tuning fork and the beam were beating against each other a couple of times a second.

Alex said, "I think that's about as good a match as we're going to get. Let me measure the beam length." He got a yardstick and measured the length of the vibrating beam. "Ruth, it's just about fifteen and three eighths inches long."

As Ruth was recording the magic ice beam length, Alex removed it from the clamps and took it over to a scale, where he weighed it. "Zero point two pounds," he called to Ruth. He measured the dimensions and called out, "Two feet long, one inch wide, a quarter inch thick."

Alex handed the ice bar to Elsa, who sent it back to wherever she had pulled it from. Kristoff handed Alex one of the bars of ice from the bag.

After a repetition of the tone matching process, Alex measured the vibrating ice bar length at eight and eleven sixteenths inches long. The weight of the bar was a tenth of a pound, and the full dimensions were one foot by one inch by a quarter inch.

Alex, Kristoff, Anna, Sarah and Ruth repeated this process with four other bars of natural ice.

"Ruth, could you give me the lab journal? I'd like to make a quick estimate of the comparative rigidities of normal and magical ice."

Ruth handed over the notebook.

Alex mumbled while he figured, "Densities look close enough.. average length for normal ice is about 8.66 inches.. length of magic ice is about 15.38 inches.. OK." Alex looked up. "The densities and cross sections being about equal means that the ratio of the rigidities is a function of the ratio of the lengths. The magical ice length is about one and three quarters times that of the regular ice length."

"Does that mean my ice is three quarters again as rigid as regular ice?" asked Elsa.

"Um.. no, Your Majesty. The ratio of the rigidities is the ratio of the lengths to the fourth power. So skating blade ice is about ten times as rigid as regular ice."

"How is that _possible_?" asked Kristoff, shaken.

"I could speculate about the perfection of the crystal structure of magical ice, but I would only be guessing. At this point the only answer I can give is 'It's magic'," said Alex, sourly. "I'm expecting similar results when we test for tensile and compressive strength. But we won't actually know unless we measure, so Kristoff, can you pull out one of the hourglass shaped chunks of ice?"

Kristoff reached into the oilcloth bag and pulled out a solid chunk of ice shaped like the glass in an hourglass, with bulbs two inches in diameter and a neck a quarter of an inch in diameter.

"Your Majesty, could you make a duplicate of this chunk of ice with the same characteristics as skating blade ice?"

Elsa brought her palms together. As she separated them the gap between them was filled with a rod of ice two inches in diameter. When the rod was long enough she gripped the ends and pulled. The center of the rod necked down to a diameter of a quarter of an inch.

Alex went to a cabinet and pulled out a hefty looking hanging spring dial scale. He suspended it from the edge of the workbench. He attached a wooden receptacle to the bottom of the scale. The receptacle was shaped to accept the tapered part of an hourglass shaped chunk of ice and was hinged so it could be opened.

Elsa handed Alex the magic ice hourglass and he fitted it into the open receptacle, closed it and bolted the receptacle shut. He fitted the bottom half of the magic ice hourglass into a similar receptacle which had a metal bowl suspended from it. Alex adjusted the length of the chains holding the bowl until it was held just a few inches above the floor.

"Ruth, the scale says that this all weighs ten pounds. Kristoff, can you help me get the sand? And a couple of the lead bricks?"

Alex and Kristoff each carried a lead brick from a stack in the corner over to the bowl. While Kristoff was moving a sandbag next to the bowl, Alex explained what they would be doing. "What we're testing here is the strength of Queen Elsa's ice under tension. The neck of the ice hourglass has an area of just under one twentieth of a square inch. Given the weight when it snaps, we can determine how many pounds per square inch it can support. The bowl is suspended just a couple of inches above the floor so it won't make too much of a mess when it drops. Assuming this ice is proportionally as strong as the previous specimen, we'll preload the bowl with about eighty pounds of lead."

Alex and Kristoff together picked up one of the bricks and gently placed it in the bowl. The scale registered fifty pounds. They picked up the next brick and placed it in the bowl, bringing the total weight to 90 pounds. Alex picked up a sandbag and poured sand into the bowl. When the scale reached 105 pounds the neck of the ice hourglass snapped, dropping the bowl to the floor and scattering a little sand. The bottom of the ice hourglass and its receptacle dropped into the sand.

"Ruth, the scale read 105 pounds when the bowl dropped and it reads 3 pounds now." Alex released the top and bottom of the ice hourglass pieces from their receptacles and set them before Ruth on the workbench. "Please draw the fracture site."

While Ruth was drawing, Alex and Kristoff dug the lead bricks out of the sand pile in the bowl and put them back on the stack in the corner. Alex lifted the bowl and Kristoff held the sandbag while the sand was poured back in. Alex got a whiskbroom and collected the scattered sand from the floor.

Alex and Kristoff measured the breaking weight for five specimens of normal ice. Ruth drew the fracture sites. The average weight of ice, receptacle, chains, bowl and sand below the fracture site at the time of fracture was ten pounds.

"The magical ice is a bit more than ten times as strong in tension as ordinary ice," said Alex after a brief period with the lab notebook.

Elsa asked, "How did you know how much to preload the bowl?"

"I guessed, Your Majesty. Kristoff and I ran the experiment with normal ice yesterday. We knew about how much weight normal ice could take, and I just used the multiplier from the rigidity results. So it was an educated guess, but still a guess. Kristoff and I also tested the compression strength of normal ice yesterday. Four little quarter-inch-on-a-side cubes together supported one hundred eighty pounds before they were crushed. Considering the multiplier we've seen today I don't think it's safe to repeat that experiment with magical ice. For one thing we don't have nine tenths of a ton of lead. And even if we did, I wouldn't want it tipping over when one cube collapses before the rest."

"So how will we find out the strength of my ice in compression?"

Alex grinned. "Well, I _do_ have an idea that might be fun."

"_That's_ a first," muttered Ruth, which earned her a warning glare from Sarah.

"We're going to need ear plugs for this one," said Alex. "Your Majesty, I'd like you to create a small ball of ice, about a quarter inch in diameter. Then stretch it into a shell, leaving a vacuum in the center. If you stretch it far enough the shell will implode and shatter. If we measure the thickness and radius of the shell we can calculate the compressive strength of your ice."

"Why the ear plugs?" asked Anna.

"If the ice is strong enough, the shell will be large enough that the air rushing into the vacuum inside will make a loud pop when it bursts. Of course it won't truly be a vacuum inside, as ice will sublime from the interior of the shell. And since the shell will be cold, water will condense on the exterior and freeze unless Queen Elsa surrounds the shell with a zone of thaw or we reassemble the air dryer."

Elsa said, "What do you mean by a zone of thaw? I don't know what that is, much less how to make one."

"Well, I've probably got the name wrong. But whatever you wish to call it, Your Majesty, you know how to make one. It's what keeps water from condensing and freezing on your ice regalia."

"Oh. Should I try to make the ice like skate blade ice, or should I see how strong I can make it?"

"Your Majesty, I'd like to see how strong you can make the ice. If you can make it strong enough, at some point the shell should be lighter than the air it displaces and it will float. Sarah, could you pass out earplugs?"

Anna said, "Wait. Elsa is going to be making _floating_ ice bubbles? That go _bang_ when they pop? Who needs fireworks! This could be _fun_!"

Sarah handed out earplugs and everybody inserted them.

Elsa gathered a small sphere of ice out of the air and placed it on her left palm. As she gestured over it with her right hand the sphere started to expand and a void appeared at the center. She continued gesturing over the sphere and it continued to grow.

Something about the gestures that Elsa was making with her right hand was familiar to Sarah. Elsa's right hand repeatedly moved forward over the ice shell, rose, and moved backward, the fingers flexed backwards at the same time. After a few moment it came to her. "_At some point she must have seen someone stretching dough for a strudel_," she thought.

It was evidently becoming more difficult to stretch the shell, as Elsa was hunched over the sphere and concentrating intently. When the sphere reached a diameter of two inches, it lifted out of her left hand.

Alex yelled to be heard through the earplugs, "Your Majesty, step back and let it melt."

"Don't you need to measure the shell thickness?"

"No. The fact that the shell is floating gives me a good solid lower limit on its strength."

Elsa stepped back, relaxed, and almost immediately the shell imploded with a _BANG_!

As everyone removed their earplugs they could hear running footsteps in the hall. The door to the lab was jerked open and a guard plunged into the room with a drawn sword.

"Is everything all right, Your Majesty?" he asked.

"Yes, everything is fine. Thank you for your vigilance. You may return to your duties."

After the guard left, Alex said, "Ok, run-ins with the guards was a hazard I hadn't anticipated. Please note it in the log book, Ruth." Alex considered for a moment, then said, "Your Majesty, I'd like to move to a larger scale for our next session. Would it be possible to change our venue to a nearby lake? Perhaps one at a low enough altitude that ice harvesters only use it later in the winter? If possible, one that's fairly out of the way. That way we won't disrupt anything or disturb anyone."

Kristoff said, "I know a lake that would be perfect. It's only about three miles away, and we won't be harvesting there until January."

Anna said, "We could make a day trip of it. Ooh! With a picnic! And Olaf and Sven can come along to watch the ice works."

"Ice works?" asked Elsa.

"Instead of fireworks."

Elsa chuckled then said, "Oh, very well. But Alex, we never measured the radius and thickness of the shell. How will you find out how strong my ice was?"

"For a vacuum filled ice shell to float, it has to displace enough air to support its weight. It turns out that the thickness to radius ratio depends only on the density of air and ice and is the same for any size shell. So is the pressure exerted on a cross section of that shell. The shell thickness is just about the radius divided by twenty two hundred. And the strength of the magical ice in the shell has to be about fifty times that of normal ice."

"Whoa," breathed Anna.

"Yes Your Highness," said Alex, "whoa. Your Majesty, were word of this day's work to leak out you would be the envy of engineers everywhere. The universe _hates_ engineers. 'Nature sides with the hidden flaw', 'Whatever can go wrong, will go wrong'. These are sayings engineers live by. On the other hand, the medium you work in _loves_ you. It will go _far_ beyond its natural limits to be whatever you want it to be. It will come to life if necessary. I actually find it a bit disheartening."

"Really? Why?" asked Elsa.

"Because any time I have to answer a question like 'Why is the ice so strong?' with 'It's magic' I'm not being a natural philosopher," said Alex, sadly. "The _best_ I can be under those circumstances is an engineer exploiting a phenomenon without _understanding_ it. And that's a very dangerous way to operate. You're almost begging to be surprised."

"I see," said Elsa. "Perhaps we should end today's session." She removed her goggles, and everyone else followed suit.

"Very well, Your Majesty," said Alex. He retrieved the lab notebook from Ruth and looked it over. "Thank you for recording today, Ruth." He handed the lab notebook to Elsa. "I'll write a report on today's work next week if that's all right."

"Certainly. Sarah, since we didn't get a chance to play chess today, would you be able to come tomorrow after I hold court?"

"I'd be delighted Your Majesty," said Sarah. "Oh, and could you fill the tub again? I need more water."

Elsa waved a hand and the tub filled with ice, then Elsa and Anna took their leave. Kristoff helped Alex, Sarah and Ruth clean up and lock up the lab.

* * *

**A/N - Sorry about the length, but this is stuff that has to be gotten through. And I thought the floating vacuum bubbles were a cool idea. And for the most part, I did do the math and crunch the numbers. But man, I really prefer SI units to imperial ones.  
**

**Thanks to reviewers Morgaine2005, PascalDragon, and jwjohnson1171, and new readers who are following and favoriting.**


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter 19

It was late Thursday afternoon. Anna had stood by while Elsa presided over court (which had actually been pretty interesting). But she'd refused to sit around and watch a slow moving chess game, and so had gone and checked out preparations for the Harvest Festival. Everything was proceeding nicely, and Anna was looking forward to the music and dancing to come.

Anna was on her way back to the main part of the castle when she passed Ruth's workshop. She glanced in through the door's window and froze, curiosity getting the better of her.

Ruth was operating what looked like the offspring of a meat grinder and an alcohol lamp. A thin walled tube of glass was being extruded from the front of it and being guided and held straight by a set of metal rollers. As the front of the tube passed over gaps between the rollers, Ruth gingerly bumped the sagging tube end onto the next roller using what looked like a metal spatula.

Ruth nicked the end of the tube near the machine with a knife, then sat down and pumped her treadle compressor. The stream of air it produced was passed through an air dryer, and so was cold. She played the cold air over the nicked part of the tube and it cracked, separating from the machine.

Using occasional touches with her fingertips, Ruth carefully moved the tube back and forth on the rollers. As she moved it she also turned it, so the tube stayed round while it cooled. Ruth kept the tube moving and turning on the rollers for several minutes after it held its shape, touching it more often as it cooled to gauge its temperature.

"_Doesn't glass have to be a _thousand_ degrees before it softens?_" thought Anna. "_The cold doesn't bother Elsa because she's got ice magic. A thousand degrees! Ruth must have _fire_ magic! But why is she keeping it _secret_? What do we _really_ know about her and her family? They could be spies, and having someone with secret fire magic they might be assassins!_"

Once the tube was cool enough, Ruth lifted it off of the rollers, keeping it moving forward and back on her palms.

Anna burst into the room. "Pyromancer!" she yelled, pointing an accusing finger.

"Gaah!" yelled Ruth and clutched the tube tightly. As it burned her hands she flung it onto the table where it shattered. "Yow! Ow! Ow! Ow!" Ruth plunged her hands into a nearby bowl of ice water. "What was _that_ for?"

"Pyromancer?" asked Anna in a small voice. "Don't you have fire magic?"

"No! Ow! What gave you _that_ idea? Ow!" Ruth took her hands out of the ice water and inspected them. Fortunately there didn't seem to be any blisters rising in the gaps between the scars and calluses. She blinked tears of pain from her eyes, sighed, carefully dried her hands, gingerly opened the emergency supply box in the corner and pulled out a container of burn salve.

"Um.. doesn't glass have to be, like, a thousand degrees before it softens?"

"Sure. Ow. But this isn't glass. This little heater is nowhere near hot enough to melt glass. Plenty hot enough to burn though. Ow." Ruth picked up a piece of shattered tubing and popped it into her mouth. As she crunched on it she said, "It's sugar. But it doesn't taste very good because of the stuff I have to add to keep it from crystalizing. I only have so much glass, so whenever I want to play around or try something new I practice on sugar. Ow."

"I'm _so_ sorry, Ruth. Is there anything I can do?"

"Can you open this jar of burn salve? Then snuff the heater?"

Anna opened the container and Ruth took a small scoop of the salve and spread it over her hands. Anna snuffed the flame on the alcohol burner.

"Are you going to be ok?" asked Anna.

"Ahhh, that's better," said Ruth, her shoulders sagging with relief. "I don't know what Mom brews into this stuff but it's amazing. In a couple of days the burns'll be gone and it's already easing the pain. I'll be all right."

"What can I do to help?"

"If you can brush the broken pieces of sugar into the bucket over there and dump the ice water into the courtyard, I'll cap the heater and we can leave the rest of the cleanup until my hands are better."

While Anna brushed the shattered remains of the tubing into the bucket labeled 'Sugar', Ruth bandaged up her hands. Anna popped a piece of broken tubing into her mouth and found that she agreed with Ruth, it didn't taste very good. Anna took the bowl of ice water out to the courtyard and poured it on the cobbles. She brought the bowl back to find Ruth carefully easing her goggles off her head and getting ready to lock up the workshop.

As Ruth was locking up she asked, "Anna, I know you've read the signs on the door. So why did you barge into the workshop yelling 'Pyromancer!'?"

"I thought you had fire magic and Corona had sent you to assassinate Elsa," said Anna, embarrassed.

"A..and you just barged in?" asked Ruth, aghast. "What if I _had_ been a pyromancer? You could have been fried!"

"Heh, ok, maybe that wasn't the most brilliant of moves. I guess I could have snuck away and told Elsa. But she's playing chess with your Mom. Maybe I should have grabbed a few guards and had you thrown into the dungeon?"

"And gotten them fried _too_? Or not, since I _don't_ _have_ fire magic. And _then_ what?" asked Ruth, growing anger evident in her face and voice. "How could I prove I'm _not_ a pyromancer? Would I wait out the rest of our year here in an _asbestos lined dungeon_? Or would the Queen have had us all _deported_? Maybe a few burns isn't too high a price to pay for _avoiding_ all that."

Anna's cheeks burned with embarrassment. "I'm sorry, Ruth. I didn't think it through."

"And you've _seen_ my hands before. A pyromancer wouldn't have burn scarred hands any more than Queen Elsa would be missing fingers from frostbite."

"Ok, ok, I get it, I was stupid."

"You could have just _asked_ what I was doing. How could you even _think_ I'm an assassin? I thought we were _friends!_"

"Ruth, I'm sorry. Can I take you to the castle physician?"

Ruth collected herself. "No. Thank you. I just want to go home."

"I'm so sorry."

"Goodbye, Your Highness."

* * *

Anna slowly knocked on Elsa's open office door. Elsa, working at her desk, looked up and smiled, then noticed the expression on Anna's face.

"What's wrong?" asked Elsa.

"I messed up with Ruth this afternoon."

"What happened?"

Anna cringed and said in a small voice, "Um.. she ended up getting burned."

Elsa started from her seat. "Anna! How badly?"

Anna made pacifying motions with her hands. "Not too badly. There weren't any blisters. And she says the burns will be healed in a day or two. But.. it's _why_ it happened that might actually be worse."

Elsa sat back down in her chair and beckoned Anna into the chair beside her desk. "Don't give me the story in dribs and drabs, tell me what happened."

Anna took a deep breath, then said rapidly, "I was walking past her workshop and looked in and saw her touching hot glass with her bare hands so I thought 'fire magic' and when she had her hands full I burst into the room and accused her of being a pyromancer." She inhaled and said, "Then she burned her hands."

Elsa rolled her eyes. "I take it she's _not_ a pyromancer?"

Anna shook her head. "It wasn't glass, just hot sugar."

"And then?"

"And then I helped her clean up and she asked me why I barged in and I told her that I'd thought she had fire magic and had been sent to kill you. That's when she got mad and told me off for accusing her."

"It sounds like you deserved it."

"Elsa, you didn't see what I thought I saw. Which was Ruth touching thousand degree hot glass with her bare hands. Tell me you wouldn't have thought she was a pyromancer."

"I might have. But I would have asked about it before immediately jumping to the conclusion that she was an assassin." Elsa sighed, then said decisively, "We owe the Morris family an apology." She stood. "And we should probably get to it quickly."

* * *

**A/N - I know Ruth's language in this chapter is inoffensive to the point of unbelievability. But I've set a K+ rating on this story and I'm going to do my best to keep it there.**

**Thanks to the reviewers of chapter 18: dyslecksec, Morgaine2005, PascalDragon, and ptahaegyptus2. You made some great points and I'll probably steal some of the ideas in your reviews. To the guest reviewer, you're right. The construction of the bridge to the ice palace truly strains belief, not only for the fact that it grows from one side, but I didn't notice any anchorage before Elsa started climbing it. It might have been magically enhanced to be rigid enough to support the necessary weight, but without being anchored the whole thing should have just toppled into the ravine.  
**

**In ptahaegyptus2's review of this chapter he notes that Elsa could have levitated the bridge as it was being constructed to alleviate the whole toppling problem. I think that's a pretty good solution. **


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter 20

Sarah was whistling a triumphant tune as she opened the cottage door with the groceries for dinner. The whistle died on her lips as she heard sobs coming from Ruth's room.

Sarah moved toward Ruth's bedroom. "Ruth? Are you all right?"

"No! My _hands_ are burned, Princess Anna thinks I'm some sort of.. of.. magical _assassin_, I can't understand the _stupid_ Arendelle accent, and I don't know what's happened to _Fred_!"

Sarah rushed into the room to see Ruth curled up on the bed, her hands bandaged. "Your hands are burned? How badly?"

"This cottage is _tiny_, there's _nothing_ to do, I'm always _cold_, I _hate_ Arendelle, and _I wanna go home_!"

Sarah got Ruth up on the edge of the bed, sat down next to her and gathered her into her arms. Ruth sobbed into her shoulder until she started hiccoughing.

As the hiccoughs subsided Sarah asked, "May I look at your hands?"

Ruth nodded into her shoulder then sat up. Sarah unwrapped the bandages and inspected Ruth's hands.

"Ooh, that must have hurt. Were there any blisters?"

"No."

"You used the salve?"

"Yes."

"Is it helping?"

"Lots."

Sarah rewrapped the bandages. "How did it happen? You're usually so careful."

"I _was_ careful. I was making practice tubes, and I was wearing goggles and had the ice water set up and everything."

"So what happened?"

Ruth took a deep breath and exhaled. "I was moving a tube to the cooling rack when Anna burst in. I clutched the tube and burned my hands. A..and when I asked her why, she said she'd thought I was an assassin with fire magic! How could she think I'm a.. a killer!"

Sarah opened her arms again and held Ruth. They sat together for a few moments, then Sarah said, "Prince Hans."

"What?" Ruth sat up. "Mom, I'm _nothing_ like Prince Hans."

"I know dear. But Prince Hans left deep scars. Princess Anna fell in love with him and trusted him _completely_. Then he betrayed her. Horribly. Is it any wonder she finds it hard to truly trust? She saw what she thought was magic that had been _kept secret_, and leapt to the wrong conclusion. Come to think of it, the idea of magic being kept secret from her must have been an uncomfortable parallel to her ignorance of Queen Elsa's powers."

"Oh. I.. I guess that makes sense. But it still hurts."

"I know, I know." They sat companionably together for a while, then Sarah asked, "Are you feeling a little better?"

Ruth nodded.

Sarah asked, "Ready to give Princess Anna and Arendelle another chance?"

Ruth hesitated, then shook her head.

* * *

Ruth was sulking in her bedroom and Sarah was preparing dinner when there was a knock at the front door.

Sarah wiped her hands on her apron and shouted, "Come on in, it's unlocked." She was surprised to see the door from the entry hall open and Queen Elsa enter, followed by Princess Anna. Sarah quickly glanced around the room, mortified by the clutter of potted plants, stacks of open books, papers, and bits and pieces of Alex's experimental equipment scattered everywhere. Her embarrassment was only intensified by the elegance of Elsa's ice regalia, which she was still wearing, having presided over court that afternoon. Anna was looking around the cramped room curiously.

"Your Majesty, Your Highness.. um.. please excuse the mess." Sarah bustled over to the dining table and swept several shorted Leyden jars off the table into her apron. She disappeared into her bedroom, dumped them onto the bed and returned, closing the door behind her. "Please, be seated. May I offer you something to drink? Coffee? Tea?"

Anna and Elsa sat at the small dining table. Anna asked, "Do you have any cocoa?" Elsa gave her a scolding look.

"Um.. no, Your Highness. I'm sorry." Sarah sat down at the table. "So, to what do we owe the pleasure of your visit?"

"Anna and I have come to apologize to your family, and especially to Ruth."

"It sounds like this is about more than just burned hands."

"It is. Anna and I realize that you and Alex have invested an enormous amount of trust in me."

"An entire _world's_ worth, Your Majesty."

"And we haven't reciprocated. We're sorry for not trusting you, and sorrier that it led to Ruth's injury. Can you forgive us?"

"Your Majesty, Your Highness, I understand how.. _nuanced_ trust has to be for royalty. I can forgive you for your lack of trust. And although I'm angry about it, forgiveness for Princess Anna's hasty actions and her burns are Ruth's to give. Ruth and I have talked, and if Your Highness were to offer an apology now, Ruth might be receptive."

Anna nodded, stood up, walked over to Ruth's bedroom door and knocked gently: knock-knock-knockknock-knock. "Ruth? May I come in?" There was a pause. "Please?" Another pause, and then Anna entered Ruth's room.

Sarah asked Elsa, "Was there anything else, Your Majesty?"

"Well first, if Alex isn't around and we're not in public can we dispense with the titles and honorifics? Please, call me Elsa."

Sarah smiled, bowed her head and said, "It would be my honor and pleasure, Elsa. And second?"

"I can't figure out why Corona actually sent you." Elsa waved a hand. "Yes, yes, there are the obvious reasons, studying my powers and smoothing over the trade agreements, but it surely cost quite a bit to send you all to Arendelle, and I don't know what Corona thinks it's getting that's worth it."

Sarah laughed. "Is that all? As a researcher at the Royal Academy, whether in Corona or Arendelle, Alex's salary would have been paid either way. The rest of the costs of our year here were a punishment for the director of the Academy for publishing Alex's paper and interfering with trade negotiations, and weren't that large anyway. You wouldn't believe the accommodations we had on the ship coming here. And how much arguing Alex had to do to justify every piece of equipment. If there's any hidden agenda, it's that we get to know _you_, Queen Elsa and Princess Anna, the Royal Family of Arendelle. Get to know you both personally, and by the way you rule."

"Why would _that_ be important? Oh. Magic."

"No, Your Majesty. _Incredibly_ _powerful_ magic. At this point no-one knows what you'd do in case of instability or invasion of the neighboring kingdoms. The uncertainty has actually kept the local political scene fairly stable for the past year. But this grace period will eventually come to a close. Getting to know the Arendelle Royal Family, even at a remove, means King Philip can better anticipate events if the political situation becomes unsettled."

"And if I object to being a piece on King Philip's chess board?"

"Why should you? He's one on yours. It just adds another layer of 'I know that you know', and by now I know _you_ well enough to know that you can handle it. Especially since you're reading our mail and you actually _do_ know what he knows."

"While I appreciate your confidence in my political abilities, when you return to Corona I won't know what you've told him," said Elsa.

"I guess you'll have to get to know _us_ well enough that it won't be a surprise," said Sarah with a smile. "After all, it's not as if you'll keep us as prisoners. And, eventful as it's been so far, we're not likely to forget this year."

"No, of course not," said Elsa, while she did her best not to think about trolls.

* * *

Knock-knock-knockknock-knock. "Ruth? May I come in?"

"No."

"Please?"

"Oh, all right. Come in."

Anna opened the door and stepped into Ruth's tiny bedroom, which had just enough space for a bed, a dresser, and a chest of drawers. Ruth was sitting at the head of her bed, feet in slippers, knees up, hugging a large green plush chameleon. On the wall opposite the window and next to the mirror above the dresser was a charcoal portrait of a good looking boy, presumably Fred. On a knick-knack shelf above the chest of drawers were several books, a glass ship, glass unicorns, glass snowmen, and a glass chameleon riding on the head of a glass horse.

"Are your hands feeling better?"

"A little, but it takes time for burns to heal."

"How about your feelings?"

"Those still hurt a lot."

Anna had thought about her apology on the way over, so it came out without any of the awkwardness she usually exhibited in times of stress and uncertainty. "I'm sorry Ruth. I'm sorry for your hands, and I'm sorry for your hurt feelings. You've never given me any reason not to trust you and I'm sorry I jumped to conclusions instead of asking you what you were doing. Can you forgive me?

Ruth thought about the question long and hard. She had considered Anna a friend, and it had _hurt_ to find out that Anna didn't trust her. But she also thought about what her Mom had said. And about how Anna had forgiven her for the 'picture with the reindeer' incident. All the while, the silence stretched uncomfortably.

Ruth finally nodded her head and said, "Yes."

Anna exhaled in relief and sat down on the foot of the bed.

Ruth asked, "So, how do we keep this from _ever_ happening again?"

"We should probably spend some time together and really get to know each other. Are you going to the Harvest Festival with anybody special?"

"No, I've got a boyfriend back in Corona. But aren't you going with Mr. Bjorgman?"

Anna grinned, "Yep, but Kristoff doesn't enjoy the dancing and he hates the crowds, so he'll probably find some excuse to leave after about an hour. We could spend some time together after that."

* * *

As Anna and Elsa were leaving the Morris residence, Anna asked, "Hey Elsa, have you ever considered licensing plush Olaf or Sven dolls? We could donate the royalties to the orphanage."

"Well, reindeer dolls are common enough that we wouldn't be able to claim them as ours. Olaf on the other hand, we can claim is original to us. I'll consider it."

"What did you talk about with Sarah?

"We talked about why her family is _really_ here. It turns out that in a way they _are_ spies."

"Oh no!" said Anna, alarmed. "I apologized for nothing! What are we going to do with them? Deport 'em? Throw 'em in the dungeon?"

Elsa laughed. "No, no, relax. They're spies in the nicest way possible. They're here to get to know us. Find out what we're like."

"Ooh," said Anna shamefacedly. "I can't have made a very good impression today."

"I'm sure apologizing helped," said Elsa. "And we've got most of a year to improve their opinion." Elsa thought, "_And if it all goes horribly awry, there will always be the terrible temptation to introduce the Morris family to the trolls. And if I give in, I truly _will_ be a monster._"

* * *

Sarah was putting the final touches on dinner and glanced out the kitchen window to see Alex briskly walking toward home. Mrs. Johannesson, a neighbor, stopped him to ask a question. He spoke with her briefly then turned and slowly finished coming up the walk, deep in thought.

Dinner that evening was subdued and awkward. Ruth was wearing gloves. Conversation, usually lively around the dinner table, quickly petered out and died. Eventually, mercifully, the meal came to an end.

"Ruth, why don't you take it easy this evening and let Mom and me deal with the cleanup," said Alex. "Since your hands are cold, why not sit by the stove and read?"

"Thanks Dad," said Ruth, and she got up and went to sit by the stove.

Alex and Sarah cleared the table and started work on cleaning up from dinner. He washed, she dried.

As Alex was washing one of the pots he whispered to Sarah, "So, what set Princess Anna off?"

Sarah whispered back, "She saw Ruth handling a practice tube and thought she had fire magic and we were here to assassinate Queen Elsa." Her eyes narrowed and she glanced at Alex. "Mrs. Johannesson asked you about the Royal Visit, didn't she?"

"Yes, and Ruth is wearing her 'hide the burns from Dad' gloves. But she's experienced and usually careful enough, so whatever caused the burns must have been a surprise. And I can't imagine Queen Elsa being impulsive enough to interrupt someone when they're working with hot materials. Will Ruth's hands be all right?"

"Yes, there weren't any blisters and she's using the burn salve I made."

Alex sighed, "Well, that's a relief. So, do we abandon the sabbatical and head back to Corona?"

"Why would you want to do that?"

"I'd rather not, but If Princess Anna's judgement is so flawed as to consider Ruth a threat, we might not be safe here."

"I don't think Princess Anna will be so eager to jump to conclusions in the future. At least with regard to us. I think we'll be safe from the royal family."

"Ok then, we stay. How is Ruth otherwise? Are her feelings still hurt?"

Ruth answered from directly behind them, whispering "Yes, they are. But they're getting better too." Alex and Sarah turned to look at her and she rolled her eyes. She spoke with her normal voice, "Come on you guys, this cottage is so small it's impossible to be quiet enough to keep a secret."

* * *

**A/N - I think of the phrase 'introduce him to the trolls' in the above context in much the same way I think of the phrase 'make him an offer he can't refuse'. In both cases things are going to be dreadfully different afterwards.**

**Once again, I thank those who are willing to write reviews for my story: Morgaine2005, PascalDragon, and ptahaegyptus2. Your reviews always give me lots to think about, and I appreciate them.**


	21. Chapter 21

Chapter 21

The day of the Harvest Festival dawned overcast but quickly cleared and promised to be bright and cool.

The Arendelle village square had been transformed from a place of commerce and trade to one for music, dancing and the celebration of a bountiful harvest. A stage had been erected for musicians, an area for dancing marked out, booths for food vendors cobbled together, and tables for judging food and craft competitions set up. As the morning continued there was a crescendo of construction and decoration as everything was rushed to completion before noon.

At noon the festivities began with Queen Elsa, dressed in a flowing robe of ice, ascending the stage.

"Welcome, everyone, to this year's Harvest Festival. We've been fortunate in the weather this year, and your hard work has brought in a fine harvest. That combined with ice, timber, and textile exports has made this one of the most prosperous years for Arendelle in recent memory."

There was a cheer from the crowd assembled before her.

Elsa continued. "So, to thank you for your efforts this past year we invite you to enjoy the music and dancing in the village square and ice skating in the castle courtyard through the afternoon. But don't exhaust yourselves during the day. Come to the castle courtyard just after dark tonight where I hope to show you all something wonderful and new. But now, let's bring up the musicians and get this celebration started."

Elsa invited the first set of musicians up to the stage and quickly left it. Once on the ground she met up with Anna and Kristoff. Anna looked ready to dance and Kristoff looked ready to tolerate it for Anna's sake.

"I'm going to look around a bit, then head to the castle to set up the ice skating. You two have fun, but Anna, remember I'm going to need you to help organize the closing. So be back at the castle courtyard before dusk."

The musicians struck up a tune and Anna looked as if her feet were itching.

Kristoff asked, "What's going to happen tonight?"

Elsa said, "It's a surprise. A good surprise." She looked at Anna and laughed. "Go, dance. But Anna, be back at the castle by dusk."

"Thanks Elsa," said Anna, grabbing Kristoff and dragging him into the dance.

* * *

Elsa moved through the festival like a swan, smoothly gliding amidst the games, food and craft competitions, and vendors on her way to the castle. She was free with her time, talking with anyone who approached her, but eventually she made it to the castle gates.

Elsa moved to the center of the castle courtyard and asked, "Are you ready?" After receiving a cheer in response she stamped her right foot and coated the courtyard with ice. Many people had brought ice skates, but Elsa was happy to provide ice blades for those who hadn't.

* * *

Kristoff soon reached his saturation point with dancing, even dancing with Anna. It wasn't that he was tired so much as terrified. During the most active paired dancing Anna had a habit of aiming them at the area most congested with dancers and he was always expecting to collide with one of the other couples.

During one of the pauses between dances, he asked, "Anna, why do you always aim at the crowd? You're going to get us killed, or at least trampled."

"Pfff." She waved away his objection. "The only way to survive is to aim at where the people are. By the time you get there, everyone's moved away."

"Even so, I think I've had enough. Do you mind if I go check on Sven?"

"Ha! I told Ruth you wouldn't last more than an hour."

"And you were right. I'm done." They shared a brief kiss and then Kristoff left in the direction of the castle.

* * *

Kristoff was walking through the castle gates when he saw Alex watching the ice skating from a courtyard bench. No, he wasn't watching the ice skating, he was watching Elsa making ice skates. Kristoff approached, and when Alex saw him he smiled and gestured to the empty space beside him. Kristoff sat down next to Alex.

"It's amazing," said Alex. "The design of each pair of blades is different. Queen Elsa's usually taking her design cues from people's attire, but I'm convinced that sometimes she's making skates that reflect the personality of the skater. Maybe for the people she knows personally. I wish I had a pair of binoculars. Some of the designs are quite intricate. And of course putting aside materializing the ice out of thin air, the blades are impossibly strong and durable. At some point I'm going to have to get to the Ice Palace, if only to see what can be done when your medium loves you."

"Well, when I saw it, the Ice Palace was spectacular. But whatever you do, don't go up there without Queen Elsa."

"Marshmallow?"

"Marshmallow."

Alex leaned back and turned to look at Kristoff. "Thank you for your assistance this past month and a half. You've been a great help."

"No problem. Ice is what I do."

"How did you get into the ice harvesting business?"

"I was pretty much born into it. I've been doing it since I was little."

"What was it like making the transition to management?"

"Hard. I was a lone and local operator until I was given a larger role. Suddenly I wasn't just cutting ice and making deliveries in Arendelle, I was helping draft trade agreements and protecting the interests of _all_ the ice harvesters. Queen Elsa helped when I got overwhelmed. And man, did I get overwhelmed."

"You don't appear to have stayed overwhelmed."

"No, I've gotten pretty good at the bigger picture. But I still like getting out on the lakes and harvesting."

"Keeps you connected with your constituents?"

"My what?"

"The workers you're representing."

"Yeah, but sometimes it's just good to get back on the ice. And the trips out and back give me time to think."

"I can understand wanting that."

* * *

Ruth found Anna impatiently waiting out a couples dance. She was bouncing on the balls of her feet, rarin' to dance again.

"Hi Anna."

"Hey Ruth. Do you like to dance?"

"I love to dance. But I don't recognize any of the music. Or the steps those dancers are taking."

"So don't do any of the complicated dances. For the simple ones you can follow my rule."

"What's that?"

"When the circle moves left, you move left. When the circle moves right, you move right."

"But what about footwork and stuff?"

"As long as everyone's having fun, no one cares about your footwork. Just watch and follow along as best you can."

The couples dance ended and the musicians upped the tempo. Anna grabbed Ruth's hand and pulled her laughing into the dance.

In the beginning Ruth felt awkward about messing up the footwork, but she relaxed when she saw Olaf on the other side of the circle just running left and right to keep up. Occasionally the circle opened up when he couldn't keep up and one arm or the other detached, but everyone was having fun, so nobody minded.

* * *

Soon after Kristoff excused himself to visit Sven, Sarah joined Alex. She looked at his rapt attention to Elsa's magic and asked, "Am I going to have to force a sleeping draught down your throat tonight?"

"No. While it _is_ amazing, and there are enough subtleties that I never tire of watching it, it's nothing we haven't seen and experimented with before. Besides, I've got an 8:00 AM lecture tomorrow, and if I can't sleep off the effects of your evil brew my classroom performance will be, well, erratic. My poor students are having enough trouble as it is without me adding to it."

"Ok, but if the closing ceremonies are 'fascinating' I'm drugging you. Have you seen any of the rest of the festival?"

"No, I've been sitting here watching the magic."

Sarah got up from the bench and pulled Alex to his feet. "You ought to see some of the crafts. I wouldn't mind owning some of the pieces I've seen."

"Where would we put them?"

* * *

Anna bounced around the festival like a flea, rushing from one destination to the next, sometimes helping judge a competition, sometimes playing the games, sometimes dancing or listening to the musicians. Ruth tagged along. Near the end of the afternoon, as they reached the edge of the square, Anna stopped and sniffed. A grin spread across her face as she said, "Do you smell that?"

Ruth sniffed and concentrated, smiled and said, "Chocolate! Milk chocolate. Swiss." She sniffed again. "No, _Belgian_ milk chocolate."

"You can smell the difference?"

"You know how Dad can be a _teensy_ _bit_ obsessive?"

Anna rolled her eyes, "Yeah."

"He's got a sweet tooth."

"Oh no."

"Oh yes. When he got 'fascinated' with sugar he grew single crystals the size of my head, and got the palace confectioners to teach him how to make caramel, fudge, fondant, nougat, brittles, and everything else sugary. Mom gained five pounds. He even invented my sugar tube extruder. And then he got interested in chocolate. Did you know you can be exposed to so much and so many types of chocolate that you're sure you _never, ever_ want to see it again?"

Anna stared at her, eyes wide with horror, and said, "No, and I refuse to believe it."

"Last year Dad went all Microscope Mind on chocolate. From November through May there was chocolate. Swiss chocolate, Belgian chocolate, milk chocolate, white chocolate, bittersweet chocolate, cocoa powder, roasted cocoa nibs, raw cocoa beans and every other form of chocolate from every corner of the world that _makes_ chocolate. By May I couldn't stand the smell of the stuff and Mom banished it from the house. Luckily it's too hot at home between May and November to make chocolates.

"Oh my."

"On the plus side, after half a year without chocolate I can appreciate it again. And I know _way_ more about it than I used to."

"Care to appreciate some chocolate and share some of that knowledge? My treat."

* * *

"...and that's how you hand dip chocolates," said Ruth as she nibbled a small confection.

Anna and Ruth were leaving the chocolate shop Anna's nose had led them to.

"I had no idea making chocolates was such an involved process," said Anna around a mouthful of chocolate.

"Why do you think they cost so much? Anyway, once you've done it a couple of times you can tell when the chocolate is tempered by the way it feels on the marble slab."

Anna looked up at the darkening afternoon sky. "Uh oh. I've gotta head to the castle to set up for closing. Make sure you're in the courtyard when it gets dark. It should be fantastic."

"Ok. We'll be there."

Anna headed off to the castle while Ruth started looking around for her parents.

* * *

As afternoon darkened to dusk the festival started winding down. The musicians left the stage and the dancers dispersed. As the food vendors finished their final rush and closed down their booths, the lamplighters set to work. As twilight deepened to full dark everyone, including the Morris family, started moving toward the castle.

Elsa had cleared the courtyard of ice and Anna was directing the preparations for the end of the festival. Once the flow of people through the castle gates had slowed, Elsa moved to the center of the courtyard. She stamped a foot and a small hexagonal platform of ice, two feet on an edge built itself up and raised her three feet above the courtyard. Around the courtyard, guards covered the lamps.

Elsa gathered a small ball of ice out of the air and expanded it. As she worked, the shell of ice glimmered with magic. In the darkened courtyard all eyes were drawn to it. When it was a foot across it floated out of her hands and she wafted it aloft with a breeze. When it was high above the castle it imploded with a "_BOOM_!" and glittering streamers of snow shot forth from it, filling the sky with light.

While the crowd "Oohed", Sarah whispered to Alex, "Where's the light coming from?"

He whispered back, "Didn't you notice it the first night? Whenever the magic makes ice or snow there's a glow. I'd planned on investigating the light the session after our expedition."

Meanwhile, Elsa snapped her fingers and five smaller glowing ice shells grew before her. She sent them aloft one at a time in different directions and shortly thereafter came five sharp reports and a cascade of magically glowing snow flurries filled the night sky over Arendelle Castle.

Alex commented to Sarah, "_Nice_ use of external triggers. Did you notice that each of those shells burst at the same height? And that each implosion was the trigger for a snow flurry."

Sarah shushed him with a whispered, "Hush, Alex. Right now I just want to watch and wonder."

On the dais, Elsa turned and pointed to the top of one of the towers along the castle wall. A glowing pillar of snow shot from it. The pillar branched repeatedly until after several seconds it resembled an enormous birch tree made of light, the trunk fading even as the smallest twigs and leaves glowed their brightest.

Sarah asked, "Ok, never mind what I said before. I've got to know. How did she do _that_?"

"I have no idea." Alex stared, and mumbled to himself, "How _did_ she do that? Sooo many questions..."

Elsa pointed to the next tower along the wall and a huge spruce tree made of light sprang from it. Elsa created trees of light on each of the remaining castle wall towers. Each tower had a different tree: pine, alder, aspen, willow and finally oak.

As a finale, Elsa created a blanket of thousands of small floating ice shells and wafted the glowing spheres aloft. As they were rising she pointed to the peak of Arendelle Castle, which erupted in a glowing shaft of snow topped with an enormous glittering crocus flower. There was a sustained crackle, as if from strings of firecrackers, as the ice shells imploded at random in a coruscation of light. When the last of the shells sounded, all of the magical light faded, and the courtyard lamps were uncovered.

Elsa addressed the spectators, "We hope you had a wonderful time today. There's hot cocoa by the entrance to the castle. You can leave the mugs by the gate. Have a safe trip home." Then she lowered and eliminated her dais and accepted the adulation of the crowd as she worked her way toward the door.

Sarah and Ruth had to guide Alex, who was still mumbling to himself, home.

* * *

The next morning, several students stood together talking in the hall after the Intro to Natural Philosophy lecture.

"Did Professor Morris seem a little.. off this morning?" asked Edgar.

"Old Bore-us's accent was thicker than usual, if that's what you mean," said Bernard.

"No, no," said Lena. "I think Edgar's right. He was skipping _way_ more steps than usual in the lecture. It was hard to keep up. And I think he might have made a few mistakes too."

"I can help you correct those in your notes. I thought it was pretty obvious where he was going off the rails," said Bernard.

"Thanks," said Lena.

* * *

**A/N - I've done my best to avoid anachronisms in this story, but since the movie was willing to play fast and loose with the history of chocolate, so am I.**

**The light that comes with magical snow and ice is peppered throughout the movie. It's probably most obvious during the first manifestations of snow in the song 'Let it Go', where the little pops of snow coming off Elsa's palms illuminate her face. There's LOTS to explore there. That should start in chapter 28 or 29 (the expedition is going to take three or four chapters).  
**

**Thanks to the reviewers of chapter 20: Morgaine2005 and PascalDragon. And thanks to all who have reviewed, followed and favorited along the way. And for those who are members of this site and not following after having read 21 chapters: why not?**


	22. Chapter 22

Chapter 22

On Wednesday, it poured.

Alex and Sarah were crossing the courtyard to get to the castle entrance. Through the drumming of the rain on their umbrellas Sarah thought she heard a voice. She dragged Alex in the direction she thought it was coming from until she could hear it more clearly. It sounded like it was saying, "Ice ..ick. Ice ..ick."

Sarah looked for the source of the voice and saw Olaf, standing in the rain, immobile. Rain was passing through his flurry, supercooling, and coating him in an ever thickening layer of ice. The ice even kept him from moving his mouth.

Sarah looked at Alex who was looking back at her. Each of them took one of Olaf's arms and legs and carried the iced over little snowman to the shelter of the castle's entrance.

"Hi guys! Do you haf an ice ..ick?

"Why are you out in the rain, Olaf? Won't you dissolve?" asked Sarah.

"Rain usually turns to snow when it goes through my flurry. I didn't ex..ect it to ..e raining so hard."

"I guess if water passes through the flurry too fast it doesn't have time to become snow," said Alex. "I suspect the conditions necessary to ice you over are pretty rare. Even so, you may want to avoid the rain in the future. What if it comes down even harder? You _might_ dissolve." Alex knocked at the castle door.

The door was opened a few seconds later by a guard.

"Excuse me. We have an appointment with Queen Elsa and Princess Anna. And Olaf here needs help from someone with an ice pick."

* * *

A guard escorted Alex and Sarah to a small parlor with comfy chairs, low tables (one with a chess set) and a warm fire. Elsa and Anna were waiting for them.

Elsa said, "Good afternoon Alex, Sarah. What did you think of the Harvest Festival?"

Sarah said, "Good afternoon, Your Majesty. We all enjoyed the festival, and I'm so glad the weather was good for it, but the ice-works at the end were a little bit of a problem."

"Really? How were they a problem?"

"Lack of sleep Your Majesty," said Alex. "The ice-works were fantastic, and I understand just about everything that went into them, but I can't figure out how you made the trees."

Elsa laughed, then said, "Are you familiar with fractals?"

"No, Your Majesty, I can't say that I am."

"Oh," said Elsa, sounding disappointed. She brightened. "Well, are you familiar with symmetry?"

"Yes."

"Good. Fractals are objects that are symmetric in scale."

"Um.. Your Majesty? Was that explanation supposed to help?"

Elsa sighed. "Let me try again. A snowflake has sixfold rotational symmetry, so if you rotate a snowflake by 60 degrees it looks the same. A fractal has symmetry in scale, so if you scale it up or down by the right scale factor _it_ looks the same."

"Ok, I think I get the basic idea. So were the trees fractals?"

Elsa laughed. "Oh no. Fractals are just a stepping stone along the way. After you write up the report on last week's work ask the librarian for Mandlebrot's book on fractals and Lindenmayer's book on grammatical models of plant development. Those should let you figure out how the trees were built. I actually used the same techniques for the basic structure of my Ice Palace. But instead of directly using my powers to build the trees, this time I had the magic waiting for a trigger, me pointing at each tower, to manifest the trees."

"Thank you Your Majesty. I'm always on the lookout for new mathematical tools and those sound very powerful."

"They are." Elsa handed Alex the lab notebook.

Sarah handed a stack of letters to Anna. "Your Highness, here is our latest correspondence."

Anna said, "Thanks. Come on Alex, we've got work to do."

Anna and Alex left the room and headed to the library.

As they walked together Alex asked Anna, "Your Highness, has Queen Elsa always had an interest in mathematics?"

Anna answered sadly, "I don't know. When we were growing up we didn't spend a lot of time together."

Back in the parlor, Elsa and Sarah settled themselves in for a protracted battle and began their game.

* * *

After two hours it was clear that the game could go on forever and when Sarah offered a draw, Elsa accepted.

As they were resetting the board, Elsa asked, "May I ask you a personal question?"

Sarah grinned and said, "You may ask. I may not answer."

"Last week you said that you and Alex had invested a world's worth of trust in me. I understood what you meant. But I still don't understand why. You've only known me two months, and after only one month you were teaching me new ways to escape captivity and better ways to protect myself."

"Well, we like you."

Elsa gave her an annoyed look. "That hardly justifies trusting that I won't go on a 'carousing crusade of conquest'. I know you well enough now to know you must have had better reasons."

Sarah laughed. "You're right, of course. Alex began trusting you when he met the Official Arendelle Ice Master and Deliverer."

"Kristoff? Why?"

"Because the mere existence of the office showed that your long term plans were based around Arendelle's resources. You weren't planning on plundering subjugated lands. How did he put it?" Sarah imitated Alex's vocal mannerisms, "By seeing her long term planning in action I was able to gauge the extent of Queen Elsa's territorial ambitions." Sarah laughed. "And Alex hasn't seen anything to change his mind."

"How about you? Why do _you_ trust me."

"Oh, lots of reasons. A big one was seeing how you reacted to Alex's musings the night he met Olaf. Your forgiving us after the 'picture with the reindeer' incident. Talking with your subjects. Watching you holding court last week. Then there's the fact that, historically at least, magic isn't hereditary. Off the top of my head I can name three 'empires' that didn't last beyond the deaths of the magicians who founded them."

"I know of at least five."

Sarah waved a hand cavalierly, "The names and numbers don't matter, just their existence and the fact that everyone who's studied history knows of some of them. You're too smart to go on a 'carousing crusade of conquest' only to have it become a crumbling collapse when you die. Your children, or Princess Anna and her children, would be left with the ruins of an empire, innumerable enemies, and a really good chance for messy deaths. And it's pretty obvious you love Princess Anna too much to do that to her."

"Oh."

* * *

That evening in her office, Elsa asked Anna, "Anything we need to censor in the Morris's mail?"

"Nope."

"Anything important to know?"

"Well it looks like the Director of the Corona Royal Academy might be kind of vindictive."

"Why do you say that?"

"You tell me," said Anna as she handed Elsa two letters.

* * *

Oscar Carlson  
Corona Royal Academy  
Capitol City  
Corona

Oscar,

We received our first communications from Corona, and I was disappointed to see nothing from the lab. No reports, no papers, no proposals. I expect my grad students to keep working on their research even if I'm not there to directly supervise. I had hoped the freedom engendered by my absence would inspire you all to pursue new directions and produce brilliant work. Not slack off. As the graduate student with most seniority, I had put you in charge. Please bring me up to date on who's doing what. If anyone is having problems, let me know so I can send suggestions. I'm in the very uncomfortable situation of operating without any information. Get me information, Oscar.

Alex

* * *

Alan Morris  
26 River Blvd  
Springtown  
Corona

Dear Alan,

I haven't had an opportunity to name anything so far, so the 'Alan effect' won't be ringing down through history just yet. I'm glad to hear things are going well back home. By now you know that we're doing all right in Arendelle and the probability of being deported has dropped considerably. At this point we've had several lab sessions with Queen Elsa and everybody is learning a lot.

I have a huge favor to ask of you. Could you make sure everything's all right in my lab at the Academy? I know it means hours of travel and effort for you, but the silence and lack of complaints from my graduate students is un-natural and fills me with foreboding. If the lab has been shut down, make sure that my students have been taken care of. If necessary, find them and let them use my house. Their names are Oscar Carlson, Joseph Green, and Shawn Vincent. I suspect my students have only been assigned to other professors rather than turned out all together, but you can never tell with Director Collins.

Anyway, I hope things remain well with you, Ida, and the boys. Sarah seems to be enjoying our time here. Ruth's a little homesick. And I'm still having trouble making things clear to my students (and recent episodes of insomnia haven't been helping at all).

All the best,  
Alex

* * *

Elsa put down the letters and said, "Well, it's obvious _Alex_ thinks the Director is vindictive."

"Yeah. That poor Carlson guy is getting hit from every direction. Alex berates him, and he probably had his progress set back by getting assigned to another professor. What a waste."

"Probably not as much a waste as you think. Remember, King Philip or his intelligence service is reading these letters. I suspect that higher powers will be at work to make sure Mr. Carlson and Alex's other students aren't too seriously inconvenienced."

"That's pretty sneaky for a supposedly guileless guy," said Anna. She laughed. "Can't you practically _hear_ Sarah suggesting that Alex write to have his brother check up on things. Oh well, at least you cured Alex's insomnia." She giggled. "When you made me try to read Mandelbrot he put me right to sleep."

"Mandelbrot is _not_ boring," said Elsa. "Ok, a little boring. But now Alex'll know how I made the trees and he'll be able to rest."

"Speaking of the trees, Sarah had some interesting ideas for next year's Harvest Festival." Anna handed Sarah's letter to Elsa.

* * *

Miriam Taylor  
237 Equinox Blvd.  
Capitol City  
Corona

Dearest Miriam,

Please apologize to Ruby for me again. For the most part it was a joy to receive your letter, but that bit about Fred had me running around trying to get Ruth's letter to Ruby through the local post so it could get to her as quickly as possible.

I have no idea why Olaf was left out of Princess Rapunzel's book. Maybe the theological implications of Queen Elsa being able to create living beings were too deep for a children's book. Although otherwise Olaf would be perfect as a character in one.

We attended the Harvest Festival and had a wonderful time. Ruth came out of her shell a bit and participated in the dancing. Alex sat and watched Queen Elsa making magical ice skates all afternoon (he claims he enjoyed it). I paid more attention to the food, food preservation, and craft competitions. There were some lovely carved pieces I would have liked to own, but we've got nowhere to keep them. To paraphrase Ruth, our cottage is so small we can't even keep a secret there. The highlight of the festival was the ice-works at the end. It turns out that when magic creates ice or snow it glows. Essentially it was a firework show without the fire. And it was spectacular! It used some of what we've been working on together, but Queen Elsa went beyond that to make amazing light sculptures of trees. If she extended the show, and maybe choreographed it with music, it could be as big an attraction for travelers as the Night of Floating Lanterns is on Princess Rapunzel's birthday.

Remember how worried I was about my chess game with the Queen? It turns out we're fairly evenly matched. We've each won one game. We're playing again this afternoon.

Next week we're going on an expedition to one of the closer ice harvesting lakes. I hope to do some plant collecting on our way there. I've been raising mice in cages, in part to act as test subjects to see if anything I collect has useful properties. Although you asked me to let you know if I run across any trolls while out collecting, I've come to doubt they exist. Every claim of a sighting I follow leads to a dead end.

Everybody here is doing well, although Alex occasionally has a tough time getting through to his students and Ruth sometimes gets homesick. I, however, am enjoying our time here. I've never had a chance to observe another culture so closely and I'm not going to let this opportunity slip by.

Give our love to everybody back home, stay well, and write back to

Your Loving Sister,  
Sarah

* * *

"That tourism idea _is_ interesting," said Elsa as she put down the letter. "An extended ice-work display with music might get Arendelle added to the Grand Tour. That would bring in money and expose influential people to our products."

"And it'd be awesome," said Anna, grinning. "Inspiring some awe would probably be good for foreign relations."

"And doing it as part of a performance would help dispel the idea that my powers are only a threat," said Elsa. "I like it."

"Too bad there wasn't time to try any choreography this year."

"Next year everyone will be expecting ice-works, but it will nice to have a new surprise," said Elsa. "Anything else?"

"Just Ruth's letters," said Anna as she handed them over.

* * *

Frederick Smith  
54 Spring St.  
Capitol City  
Corona

Dear Fred,

Are you all right? I haven't heard from you. What's going on? _Please_ write to me.

Hugs and Kisses,  
Ruth

* * *

Ruby Taylor  
237 Equinox Blvd.  
Capitol City  
Corona

Dear Ruby,

How are you and Steve doing? I'm doing ok. I'm assuming Aunt Miriam read out Mom's letters, so you know we didn't start off very well in Arendelle. In some ways it's gotten better, in others it's just gotten weirder. On the better hand, I'm finding it easier to understand the Arendelle accent, so my classes aren't so hard. On the weirder hand, Princess Anna and I almost had a falling out because she accused me of being a pyromancer (she thought I was working with glass when I was working with sugar). We're doing better now, and she even spent time with me at the Harvest Festival. Turns out she loves chocolate. She's gonna have plenty to talk about with Dad.

The Harvest Festival was a lot of fun, even though I didn't know the music or the dances, and the foods were strange. But the ice-fireworks at the end were really cool (ha ha). And then Dad got 'fascinated'. It was really embarrassing trying to keep him from walking into things on the way home. Our neighbors thought he was drunk.

By the time you get this letter I hope to have one from Fred. Mom keeps saying that long distance romances are hard. That a year is too long a time to not see someone. That the delays between letters make it impossible. It seems like she never shuts up about it! But I have faith in Fred.

Mom says you guys are doing well in school. What are you studying this year? I'm taking classes in what Dad somewhat dismissively calls 'local history and culture', partly to annoy him (he wanted me to take more math and science classes), but mostly because I'll never have another chance to learn it from the experts.

Write back soon. Love,  
Ruth

* * *

"You came off better than you deserved in that second letter," said Elsa.

Anna blushed in remembered embarrassment. "Yeah, merely weird instead of paranoid. But she knows we're reading the letters."

"And what's this about chocolate?"

Anna giggled. "Mr. Microscope went all Microscope Mind on chocolate last year. Did you know you can be exposed to so much and so many types of chocolate that you're sure you _never, ever_ want to see it again?"

Elsa stared at Anna, eyes wide with horror, and said, "No, and I refuse to believe it."

"That's what Ruth told me."

"Oh my."

"Um.. Elsa? Do we have to keep censoring these letters? It's making me feel uncomfortable."

"We do. King Philip is certainly reading them, and I _have_ to know what he knows. So yes, I'm sorry Anna, but we have to keep reading the Morris's letters."

* * *

**A/N - Thanks to reviewer Crosshair for pointing out (way back in Chapter 7) the tvtropes page on fridge brilliance in Frozen which indicated some of the implications of the 'frozen fractals' line in the song 'Let it Go'. The problem is that, to my mind at least, fractals really aren't the appropriate mathematics to describe the structure of the Ice Palace. The basic structure of the Ice Palace is better described by L-systems, invented by Aristid Lindenmayer, so that's the way I wrote it (even though 'frozen L-systems' doesn't scan as well as "frozen fractals' in a song). Both fractals and L-systems are used in these contexts as model amplifiers. I figured that if the movie could import mathematics from a century and a half forward in time, so could I.**

**A good paper to read as an introduction to L-systems for plant modeling is **

**Alvy Ray Smith, "Plants, Fractals, and Formal Languages," Computer Graphics, Vol. 18, No. 3, pp. 1-10, July 1983.**

**Alternatively the book **_**The Algorithmic Beauty of Plants**_** by Prusinkiewicz and Lindenmayer is a pretty complete explication of the subject (and as a PDF it's free).**

**On a different subject, think about poor Olaf, caught in the rain. To stay 'alive', Olaf has to stay below freezing. So if he ices up, he's going to stay that way forever unless someone with an ice pick breaks him loose. It's as bad a situation as the Tin Man's.**

**I want to thank Morgaine2005, PascalDragon, and ptahaegyptus2 for their reviews of Chapter 21. I always enjoy receiving reviews, and appreciate the helpful and thoughtful criticism.**


	23. Chapter 23

Chapter 23

The next Wednesday, the morning of the expedition/picnic, dawned clear and cold. Elsa knocked on Anna's door at 6:45 AM. Elsa's alarm clock had wakened her twenty minutes earlier. She was wearing a variation of her ice regalia that was loose enough that it didn't require a slit skirt, ankle length and without a cape. She was also wearing boots instead of ice slippers. Anna's alarm had been set to go off at 6:25 AM also, but it didn't sound like there was any movement happening in Anna's room. Elsa knocked harder. "Anna? Are you ready?"

"M'wake," said Anna in a muffled voice.

Elsa opened the bedroom door and peeked in. Anna was in bed, curling back into slumber.

Elsa silently walked up to the bed and carefully laid her palm against the back of Anna's neck.

Anna jerked forward, suddenly wide awake. "_Cold!_ Cold, cold, cold, cold, cold." She scrambled out of bed and glared at her sister, hair a wild strawberry blond nimbus, and said, "I'm gonna get you for that."

Elsa laughed. "You're welcome to try, sister dear, _after_ you're ready to go. Let me help you."

While she was getting ready, Elsa brushed out and braided Anna's hair. As she worked, Elsa silently rejoiced in the lack of a white stripe, as she had every time she'd helped Anna with her hair since the Great Thaw.

Eventually Anna was ready to meet the day and the sisters headed to the dining room.

* * *

On the way to the dining room Anna finally noticed what Elsa was wearing. It seemed so out of place for an expedition to a lake that Anna asked, "What's with the ice? Is that really practical for a picnic at a lake?"

"Absolutely," said Elsa, with a smug smile.

"Well? How is it practical?" said Anna, who suspected she was being teased.

"The cold doesn't bother me, so I don't need to bundle up." The smile got bigger.

"And?"

"The ice lets anyone we encounter know that we're not to be trifled with." The smile turned into a wickedly smug grin.

"_And?"_

Elsa chuckled, "When the time comes to 'tinkle in the woods', it's very nice to have clothing that gets itself out of the way."

The look of disgust giving way to envy on Anna's face made Elsa laugh.

* * *

The Morris family arrived slightly after the dawn, yawning, outside the gates of Arendelle Castle at 7:00 AM. They were wearing comfortable outdoor clothes, including jackets, hats, gloves and boots. The guards had been told to watch for them, so they didn't even have to knock before the castle gates were opened.

Alex and Sarah were carrying a small trunk between them. Ruth was carrying a box filled with empty stoppered glass sample containers. Alex and Sarah lifted the trunk into the cart that was waiting in the castle courtyard. Ruth carefully placed the box in the cart. Among other things, they could see hampers of food, bags of animal feed, a bag of carrots, and the emergency supply box from the laboratory had already been loaded.

One of the guards told the Morris family that they were expected in the dining room and escorted them there. They arrived to find Elsa, Anna, Kristoff, and four guards eating. They'd eaten at home, but Ruth couldn't resist taking a piece of pastry.

Breakfast was quickly completed and the group got ready to leave the castle. Before they left for the courtyard Anna said, "Make sure to use the lavatory before we leave. There aren't any toilets in the woods."

* * *

The expedition consisted of Elsa, Anna, Kristoff, Sven, Olaf, Alex, Sarah, Ruth, and the guards, one of whom was driving the horse drawn cart. Elsa and Anna rode their horses, Olaf rode Sven, and Kristoff, Alex, Sarah, Ruth, and the other three guards walked.

Kristoff said, "The trip to the lake should take about an hour and a half."

Anna said, "I thought you said this lake was only three miles away."

"It's an ice harvesting lake. It'll be a bit of a climb to get there."

* * *

The trip ended up taking about two hours, primarily because Alex was out of shape and had to keep stopping to catch his breath. Eventually, he was seated next to the driver in the cart. Sarah's stops to collect samples of anything she couldn't recognize didn't speed the party along either.

Once, when the road was wide enough for Elsa to ride alongside the cart, she asked Alex, "What are your plans for today's work?"

"Today, Your Majesty, I was hoping to look at speed of snow production, levitation of ice and water, freeze and thaw rates, and your ability to manipulate wind. And just for fun I want to end the day with a big bang."

"Isn't that a lot to fit into one day?"

"Yes, but I don't imagine I'll have many opportunities to work with you on a large scale for an entire day, so I want to get as much done as possible."

* * *

After rising over one last ridge the expedition party came to a small lake. There was a wide beach area that backed onto forest on one side of the lake and a high cliff on the other. Water was trickling down the cliff into the lake. Water also supplied the lake from the forest, running in streams across the beach. The lake emptied via a stream that cascaded over a low spot in the ridge they'd just climbed.

Despite the bright sunshine it was cold at the lake's altitude and the first order of business was to set up a fire. Wood was gathered from the forest and rocks were placed to make a fire pit on the beach midway between the forest and the lake. A metal grate was placed over the pit, held up by the rocks. After the wood was arranged in the fire pit, Alex approached Elsa. She was creating solid, but decorative, benches of ice around the fire pit. Alex waited until she was finished.

"Your Majesty, we have an opportunity for a quick experiment. Can you form a lens of ice to start the fire?"

"Certainly," said Elsa. She gathered a two inch diameter ball of ice out of the air and held it between the fingers and thumb of her right hand. She carried it over to the fire pit and held it a few feet from the exposed tinder. Sunlight streamed through the ball but didn't come to a good focus anywhere near the tinder. As she held the ice ball it flowed into a more lenticular shape and the focus improved. The lens enlarged and changed until the focused sunlight was hot enough to ignite the tinder. The fire quickly spread to the kindling.

"Your Majesty, how did you choose the shape of the lens you produced?"

"I didn't actually choose it. I just watched the bright spot and let the magic change the lens shape to make the spot smaller and put it where I wanted it."

"Interesting. I guess that could be an example of coordination between your magic and your vision. We'll have to explore this more fully at a later session. I'd like to write this up. Where's the lab journal?"

"In one of the food hampers," said Elsa. "There's a pencil in there with it since I didn't think using ink and a picnic mixed well."

"Thank you Your Majesty," said Alex as he got out the journal.

Sarah unlocked the emergency supplies while Alex sat on the edge of the cart and wrote up the fire lighting experiment with a note to investigate magic in coordination with other senses.

One of the guards set a coffee pot on the metal grate.

Once the fire was burning well, Olaf became fixated on it. He sat on one of the ice benches and gazed wide eyed and open mouthed at the dancing flames. Olaf's flurry did its best to keep him cold enough despite the heat radiating from the fire.

"Hey little guy," said Elsa, "If your flurry starts raining instead of snowing, move back from the fire."

"Ok, thanks Elsa," said Olaf.

"So, what's next on the agenda," asked Anna.

"I'd like to see how fast the landscape can be covered by snow," said Alex.

"Why?" asked Elsa.

"To determine if there is an easily discernible limit to how much water can be produced at a time. Even though I suspect the limit is enormous, after all millions of tons of water were dispersed in seconds, we won't know unless we try to measure it."

Elsa looked to make sure there was no one farther down the beach. She started with open palms held just in front of her chest, then gave a shove with her arms and her magic. The beach was covered in sixty feet of snow from the shore to the forest and from the cliff to a clean line one hundred feet away. The snow pile immediately lost its unnaturally sharp edges as snow tumbled from the block onto the lake, forest and up the beach toward the party.

Alex asked, "Was there any reason for using a block of the size you chose? Is that the upper limit to the amount of snow you can produce at once?"

Elsa shook her head. "No, I don't know that there is an upper limit. The block was just a convenient size to fill the beach." Elsa grinned, "And if I'd used a bigger one we'd have been buried."

The huge pile of snow proved irresistible to Sven, who looked at Kristoff with sad and entreating eyes. "Can I go and play?" Kristoff asked in his Sven voice, to which he replied, "Sure buddy, go have fun." Sven raced off to play in the snow. Olaf, sitting by the fire, saw an opportunity to play with Sven and followed.

Alex said, "Ok. Next I'd planned to look into the levitation of ice and water." He turned to address Elsa. "Your Majesty, would you create and levitate a sphere of ice about a foot in diameter?"

Elsa cupped her hands and a small ball of ice sprang into existence above them. She separated her hands and the sphere grew, supported on the thin air above her hands. The sphere of crystal clear ice stopped growing when it reached a foot in diameter. "Now what?"

"That is so cool," said Ruth.

"Your Majesty, do you feel any tiredness or fatigue?"

"No. Should I?"

"Considering how much ice and snow you levitated during the Great Thaw, no. But it takes just about one horsepower to levitate a one foot diameter ball of ice. So presumably the energy required to do the levitation is coming from the magic. The next question is whether you can levitate water you've created. See if you can maintain the levitation if you melt the water in your ice ball."

Ruth stepped closer to get a better look.

Elsa melted the ice in her ball. The blob stayed together for less than a second before it burst apart in a spray of cold water, drenching Elsa and Ruth. Part of Elsa's ice regalia melted under the spray, but she quickly repaired it. Ruth's clothes just got soaked.

"Aaargh!" said Ruth as she started shivering.

Elsa asked, "Are you all right Ruth?"

"J..just c..cold Your M..m..majesty. I think I'll g..go s..sit b..by the f..f..fire." Ruth went to the cart, opened the trunk and pulled out a blanket and a sheet of oilcloth. She put the oilcloth and blanket on one of the ice benches by the fire and sat down on it to warm herself.

Elsa turned to Alex and asked, "What just happened?"

"I'm not sure," said Alex, frowning. "I suspect that the levitation force was distributed non-uniformly through the volume. Possibly because with a solid body the levitation force doesn't need to be uniform, just balanced. Since there was nothing to hold it in place as the levitation force was applied, the water ball flew apart. With practice, or maybe if you just care about it, you might be able to even out the force distribution and levitate magically created water. For now, it might work better if you just keep a shell of ice surrounding the water to keep it constrained."

"Do you want me to try again?" asked Elsa.

"Yes Your Majesty, but this time let's have everyone standing a little farther away," said Alex.

Once again Elsa formed a large ice ball and levitated it above her hands. She concentrated a moment to set up a zone of thaw and the interior of the ball melted. The ball shrank a little to keep the ice shell tightly wrapped around the water inside, but there were no problems with levitating it this time. After a few seconds, Elsa moved the ball over the lake, thawed the shell and let the water drop.

"Your Majesty, try to build an ice shell around some lake water and see if you can lift that," said Alex.

Elsa did it without any difficulty. The water balloon hovered above the lake.

"Hmmm. I expected that to be harder. It could be that the force is being applied only to the shell rather than through the volume. Interesting." Alex mused and mumbled, "How would it look different if the shell melted?" After a few moments of thought he asked Elsa, "Would you melt the shell but maintain the levitation, Your Majesty?"

Elsa nodded and snapped her fingers. The water balloon fell apart very strangely. Most of the water dropped immediately and there was only a small amount of upward spray.

"Very good," said Alex. "The lake water that was frozen was able to be levitated, but the water that wasn't frozen, wasn't. When the shell was melted the originally unfrozen water fell and the water that comprised the shell, no longer supporting the rest of the water, was sprayed about. Nice. I've got to write this all up."

* * *

While Alex joined Ruth and sat by the fire to write up the snow production and levitation experiments, Anna and Kristoff joined Sven and Olaf on the enormous snow pile. Within minutes they began a snowball fight.

Elsa and Sarah stood together some distance from the fire while Alex wrote up the work so far. Elsa was looking wistfully at Anna and Kristoff playing in the snow.

Sarah said, "They look like they're having fun together. They could make a nice couple. If politics allows it."

Elsa sighed and said, "Anna really likes him, and he's infatuated with her. If they decide to get married I'll do my best to keep political considerations at bay for them."

Sarah said, "You seem a bit melancholy, Elsa."

Elsa waved at Anna and Kristoff as they threw snowballs at one another. "I love Anna, more than anything else in the world, but I envy her also. She's got a chance at leaving a _living_ legacy. The best I can hope for is a legacy of good governance, a couple of potentially immortal snowmen, and maybe some scary stories and legends."

Sarah considered for a moment. "You're sure there's no way..."

Elsa turned and looked at Sarah. "I've thought about it on and off for years and haven't found any way around the facts that I've got a body that can be cold enough to keep robes of ice from melting and when I'm frightened or distraught I can't help but freeze things with a touch. Since magic isn't hereditary, how can I hope to conceive a child, much less carry it to term."

"I'm so sorry, Elsa," said Sarah sadly.

Anna noticed Elsa and Sarah talking together and decided it was time to take revenge for being so rudely awakened. She packed a snowball and moved to get behind Elsa.

Elsa said, "It's a problem. If the council actually thought about it there _might_ be political complications for Anna and Kristoff. At some point either Anna or her children will rule Arendelle, and I'm doing my best to leave them a prosperous country that isn't dependent on my magic."

Anna chose this moment to let fly with her snowball. It flew towards the back of Elsa's head and looked like it would be a direct hit. Until an ice wall sprang into existence two feet from Elsa and blocked the snowball.

Elsa, melancholy mood broken, turned toward Anna with a laugh and said, "Of course, all that assumes she'll live to _have_ children." Elsa made a scooping gesture and an ice shell surrounding a gallon of water pulled clear of the lake and floated toward Anna.

"No! Elsa! Not water! I'll be soaked through!" shrieked Anna as she dodged, trying to evade the water balloon. "Snowballs! _Please!_ Nice, _dry_ snowballs!"

Anna gave up on dodging and ran.

The water balloon floated a few feet above and behind Anna, but was quickly gaining on her. Anna glanced back, then changed course slightly and headed for the forest, still running at full speed. She reached the trees as the water balloon was almost even with her. Before it could drop its load, the water balloon hit a low hanging branch and burst, missing Anna.

"Ha! Missed me!" she said as she turned, just in time to receive a face full of Elsa's finest, fluffiest snow.

"Truce?" asked Elsa.

"Truce. For now," said Anna.

* * *

**A/N -The day of the expedition has enough in it that it's going to take three more chapters.  
**

**Ptahaegyptus2 stated in his reviews of chapters 5 and 14 that the levitation of the snow and ice at the end of the movie needed to be examined. We're starting that here, with more to come in the next chapters.**

**Thanks to the reviewers of Chapter 22: Elementress X, Morgaine2005, and PascalDragon. Receiving and reading reviews is the part of writing I enjoy the most.  
**


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